Ireland’s Rent Pressure Zones Crippling Housing Market 

Rent Pressure Zones are designated areas of the country where a landlord can only increase the rent by 2% annually. The Irish Property Owners Association believes RPZs have constricted the supply of rental properties on the market and need urgent reform. It is a suggestion that Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers CEO Pat Davitt agrees with.

These restrictions are crippling the market at the moment and they have since they came in eight years ago and it’s time to get rid of them. There’s absolutely no doubt about that and enough evidence to show it as well. The restriction means many prospective landlords believe renting to tenants is more hassle than it is worth.

“The reason they’re not coming to the market is there’s too much restriction and the properties that are in the market at the moment, many, many landlords are renting them their properties way, way under the [market] rent,” Pat Davitt said.

Also on the programme, housing expert and Maynooth University lecturer Rory Hearne described rents as already “beyond the affordability” of too many people.

The idea that rents should be allowed to increase beyond the existing 2% cap on rents is just mind boggling. At Dublin now, the average rent is €2,000 a month. Many new builds in RPZs charge “astronomical rents” and Government needs to increase the supply of social housing.