Fixed rent controls debate continues and tenants protest at rent increases.
Protesters argue that the courts are now setting market rents far beyond the ability of tenants to pay. While landlords are happy with the rents fixed by the courts, they say they will never regain the income lost as a result of low rents. Tenants say that the courts are not fulfilling their obligations under the Housing Act and that the courts are fixing rents purely based on the market value of the property.
Bernie English of the Tenants' Association says that the people most likely to end up in the Rents Court are people on an old age pension who have actually saved some money towards a contributory pension and working families in the 35 to 40 age group who are not eligible for social welfare subsidies. She is calling on politicians to introduce a tribunal on rents and says that the court system is unfair and intimidating to tenants. She argues that private property is taking precedence over everyone's right to have a roof over their heads.
We would like to see a constitutional change which would allow for the right to a home as well as the right to private property.
Landlord Paddy Madigan disputes the claim made by tenants that rents are too high. He does not want a tribunal and says they have been a disaster in other countries. He believes that the courts have been established to protect tenants at the landlord's expense.
The whole emphasis now is that the landlords are getting away with murder.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 24 June 1983.
