Big property players sanguine about restrictions

While groups representing a certain cohort of landlords are furious about legislative proposals that will freeze residential rent prices for periods of two years, the big players in the Irish rental sector are understood to be more sanguine about future prospects with some privately welcoming the security the moves will bring.

There is a handful of large investment companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs) that specialises in residential property letting including Kennedy Wilson, I-Res Reit and Hibernia Reit, which between them control more than 4,000 separate units across Dublin.

I-Res Reit is the largest operator in that space and at the beginning of this month had 1,566 units on its books. Kennedy Wilson had between 1,200 and 1,400 apartments rented out.

Large players have been reluctant to go on the record about the proposals from Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly, but it is understood they are taking a strategic view of the plans.

Sensible compromise

“The view is that this is probably a sensible compromise,” one industry source said. “There would have been some concern about the introduction of rent controls and that might have put off some investment firms but this would bring a degree of certainty to the debate and it is something that I think most investors could live with.”

Generally speaking, the larger investment firms can take a long-term view and are not under pressure to cover mortgages taken out on properties now in negative equity. “What the big investors are looking for are reasonable returns and good tenants,” the source said.

The reaction from other quarters was not so upbeat. Mick Byrne of the Dublin Tenants' Association said it welcomed moves that would reduce the frequency of rent increases, but the proposed legislation would not curtail "the extent or amount" rents could climb. "This means at the end of the two-year period, tenants will simply receive two years' worth of rent increases," he warned.

Meanwhile the number of staff at the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) has fallen 46 per cent since 2010.

In 2010 there were 65 staff at the agency, which is charged with providing information relating to tenancy arrangements and acting as a mediator when disputes arise. There were just over 30 in 2014.

"The Government has essentially halved the number of people working in the PRTB despite more and more people relying on the services it provides," said Fianna Fáil's housing spokesman Barry Cowen. "It's a ridiculous situation."