‘More tax breaks for landlords will do nothing to address private rental crisis’

THE “more tax breaks for landlords will do nothing to address the crisis in the private rental sector”.

That’s according to Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin TD who was responding to calls by the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien to increase the landlord tax credit in Budget 2025.

Deputy Ó Broin said: “The introduction of a new tax credit of €600 for landlords in Budget 2024 was a mistake. It will do nothing to stem the flow of single property landlords from the market. We know this because of independent research from the Residential Tenancies Board and from the Department of Finance Tax Strategy Group.

“There is a significant exit of single property landlords from the private rental sector. This is due to a variety of reasons including landlords wanting the property for their own use, high house prices, landlords approaching pension age and landlords availing of capital gains tax reliefs introduced by the last Government.

“The fact that Darragh O’Brien is suggesting increasing the new landlords tax relief before it has even run its first year shows how out of touch he is with the crisis in the private rental sector.

“Never has it been so difficult to be a renter. Rents are at historic heights and rising. Up to 20,000 eviction notices were issued last year. The sector is insecure and expensive.

“The Government’s tax credit for tenants is too low, badly designed, and hard to access. That is why only about half of eligible renters claimed it in 2022.

“The failure of Government to combine their renters tax credit with a ban on rent increases means that it will be swallowed up by rent increases which now range from 11% for new rentals to 5% for existing rentals.

“To make matters worse, Government’s targets for the delivery of affordable cost rental are too low, are not being met, and much of what is being delivered is not affordable.

“Rather than floating increased tax breaks for landlords Government should be standing up for renters.

“They should be banning rent increases for all tenants for three years, combined with an easy to access refundable tax credit that would put a full months rent into every private renters pocket.

“They should also be increasing and accelerating the delivery of genuinely affordable cost rental homes to provide renters with an alternative to an insecure and volatile private rental sector.”