Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2020-07-31
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

We were in a housing crisis before the Covid crisis and we will still be in a housing crisis after the Covid crisis. The problem is that this 28-day measure is a measure whereby 28 days' notice of eviction will go into the middle of the housing crisis we faced beforehand. Yes, measures are in place but let us contrast things. We heard about the landlords and their mortgages. Compare the measures that are there for persons struggling with their mortgages with the measures that are there for persons struggling with rent such as the period of time, the timelines, the processes and the mechanisms to allow somebody to make arrears. We are giving somebody 28 days straight up to pay up and that is it. There is no long process for people to find a reasonable way to pay the back rent and deal with it. It is 28 days. Again, I am not accusing the Minister of State of this but it seems that this smacks of a measure that probably some landlords would like that is tagged on to a Bill that has mainly a very laudable and positive purpose. It needs to be revisited. I would regard 60 days as the basic minimum. I will press the amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2020-07-31/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-07-31