Tipperary TD calls for eviction ban to stay as figures show 117 notices in Premier County

Tipperary Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne has called on the Government to reverse its decision not to extend the ban on evictions in light of data from the Residential Tenancies Board which shows that 4,741 eviction notices were served on tenants in the third quarter of last year, including 117 in Tipperary.

“According to figures published by the Residential Tenancies Board, 117 eviction notices were issued to Tipperary renters between July and September of last year, indicating the extent of the potential problems that could be experienced by renters locally from April 1st when the government’s ban on evictions comes to an end," he said.

Deputy Browe said that notices issued during that period would have, in many cases, fallen due from February during the ban period. A lot of these notices will now fall due in April.

“This is going to put more pressure on homeless services and will also mean that a lot of singles, couples, families with children and people on pensions will find themselves in situations in which they will have to rely on families or friends to put them up, overhold in their rental accommodation, or face even more difficulties in finding a safe and secure place to sleep," said the Cashel TD.

He called on the Government to reverse its decision to end the eviction ban.

“For too long the private rental sector has been relied upon to meet social and affordable housing needs. For six years, single property landlords have been leaving the market," he said.

Deputy Browne said that the taxation policies of previous, and the current Government towards single property landlords, had played a significant role in decisions to get out of renting, especially when compared to the advantages given to institutional investors or vulture funds.

“Even with this trend emerging for over half-a-decade, Government has abjectly failed to deliver a sufficient volume of social and affordable housing, or to purchase private rental accommodation with tenants in situ. The Government must immediately reverse the decision to end the ban on evictions," said Deputy Browne.

He said that the Government must also accompany the extension of the ban on evictions with a package of emergency measures to extend and expand the tenant in situ scheme for social and affordable rental and using emergency planning and procurement powers to target vacant and derelict homes and new building technologies to ramp up the delivery of public housing.