Past legal advice shows rent freeze is possible, says Alan Kelly

Labour leadership contender Alan Kelly has claimed that legal advice given to him when he was the Cabinet minister with responsibility for housing says a rent freeze can be introduced.

As Minister for the Environment in 2015, Mr Kelly lengthened the rent review period from one year to two years. It meant that, in effect, anyone who faced a rent review that year did not face another one until 2017.

In 2016, the Fine Gael-led minority government brought in the current policy of rent pressure zones (RPZs), which restrict rent increases to four per cent per year in designated areas.

Most cities, their surrounding areas and large towns are now designated as RPZs but there have been calls from the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and others for a three-year rent freeze.

Martin under pressure from FF TDs to form government

---

Concerns raised over insolvency practice’s ‘business model’

---

SF’s Lynn Boylan among those running for Seanad

---

Life imitates art as actor in plague movie ends up in Covid-19 lockdown

---

Fianna Fáil had considered adopting such a policy last year but has since said it has received legal advice saying it would be unconstitutional.

‘Matter of policy’

Mr Kelly, a Tipperary TD, is competing against Dublin Bay North TD Aodhán O’Ríordáin for the leadership of the Labour Party. They take part in the first of five head-to-head debates in Cork on Monday.

Mr Kelly has repeated a call for a rent freeze and has published a section of the legal advice given to him in 2015 which he says outlines how it could be implemented.

The portion of the advice said the “length of interference with protected property rights can be a factor in determining whether such interference is justifiable”. It said the duration of such interference “should be supported by a clear policy rationale and extensive market analysis to ensure it will be found reasonable, proportional and minimally invasive of established property rights”.

“Ultimately, the duration is a matter of policy – if the length selected can be objectively justified and supported by cogent evidence, then it should be defensible as a proportionate measure.”

Mr Kelly said: “While the State cannot direct landlords to set individual prices, both the Dáil and Seanad have the legislative power to regulate the frequency of rent reviews. This gives rise to an effective rent freeze.

“This means, as a temporary measure, we can easily extend the time period under which rent reviews are allowed and this delays future rent increases for a temporary period. It is easily achievable under the Constitution to legally set this period to three years. There is no need for a referendum.”