New measures to protect tenants in rented accommodation will end a "Victorian approach" to property rights, the Government said yesterday.
But while the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said he was dismantling a system weighed heavily in favour of landlords, the Opposition claimed that new legislation did not go far enough to protect tenants' rights.
Mr Cullen said the legislation vindicated the right to make a home in rented property. Tenants had few rights and no security in the existing system, he said.
He hoped that the reorganisation of the sector would stimulate investment by the financial institutions in residential property.
The Minister added: "It is an irony of Irish history that the rights of tenants on the land, which were well established over 100 years ago, have never been properly established in law in relation to housing. Today I am righting that wrong."
The Residential Tenancies Bill will be given priority in the current Dáil session but it is not likely to become law until the end of the year.
Mr Cullen said he was open to amending the Bill as it went through the Oireachtas and said that the operation of management companies in apartment complexes might be included.
The Bill will apply even where a tenancy is not subject to a formal contract. It establishes an obligation on all landlords to maintain dwellings to the standard that applied at the beginning of a lease. Tenants are obliged not to engage in anti-social behaviour.
The Bill sets up on a statutory basis the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Landlords will be obliged to register all tenancies with the board.
There will be a fee of €70 per registration and landlords must lodge with the board their Personal Public Service Number or company number. They must also lodge same details in respect of tenants.
However, Mr Cullen said that such information would not be passed by the board to the Revenue Commissioners.
The Bill says that rent reviews should take place only once per year, except where the property is substantially changed. It says rents can be reviewed upwards or downwards.
Prohibiting landlords from charging a rent in excess of the market rate, it defines this amount as the sum required for "vacant possession having regard to the other tenancy terms and the letting values of the dwellings of similar size, type and character and located in a similar area".
In addition, the Bill establishes security of tenure of four years for tenants who have lived in a property for more than six months.
Under the existing legislation, enacted in the 1930s, tenants were entitled to security of tenure only after living for 20 years in a dwelling.
The Bill also sets out longer notice periods in respect of moves to end tenancies. These range up to 12 weeks in respect of the fourth year of tenancy. Within the first six months of a tenancy, landlords will be able to end a lease by giving 16 weeks' notice.
They are not obliged to specify a ground for termination in such cases.
The Private Residential Tenancies Board will also operate a dispute resolution system, taking such responsibility away from the courts.
Such disputes will include disagreements over the refund of deposits, breaches of tenancy obligations and rent arrears.
If an initial effort by the board to adjudicate on a dispute fails, the matter will be referred to a three-person Tenancy Tribunal appointed by the board.
Tribunal rulings will be set out in a binding determination order by the board.
They can be challenged in the High Court, but only on a point of law.