LANDLORDS ARE hopping mad with the Government over the introduction of a raft of new legislation on rental properties.

The Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA) met in Dublin and Cork this week to mount a challenge to what it calls “punitive measures both directly and indirectly imposed”.

Like a lot of other groups, the landlords are even considering taking to the streets to make their point.

According to the disgruntled IPOA, owners in the private rental market now have to pay €70 for registering with the PRTB – €20 of which goes to finance the new board, and the balance of €50 to fund inspections of rented property until April of this year. Now, it seems, the board is taking €40 out of each registration fee, and €30 goes for inspections. Meanwhile, the Government has reduced its support from €5.7m in 2007 to €1m in 2009. “What do we get from this? We get a monster that has been overpowered by bureaucracy and lack of direction,” an IPOA spokesperson said.

The association complained that landlords with a grievance have to wait up to eight months to get a hearing to resolve a dispute, and up to two years for a result of the dispute. After all this an owner may get an award or no payment.

“The PRTB is not working so we must demand action now for full-time leadership of a non-functioning board. We’d had enough, action is called for, now.”

Interestingly, the association is not exercised about the new €200 tax due on rental investments and holiday homes which is due by the end of October.

There is still a lot of confusion about this tax, going by the number of calls received by Property in recent weeks. Owners of multi-unit houses are particularly concerned about the obligation to pay the tax on each unit rather than on the house as a whole. All this at a time when rents are falling sharply and supply appears to be at an all time high.