The Government's rental reforms have been dealt an early blow by news this week of an exodus of small landlords.
This amounts to 5,405 tenants being told to leave their homes.
These notices came from small landlords who are either selling up or giving properties to family members.
And it is all happening just ahead of major changes to the rental market which come into effect from March 1 next year.
Political condemnation was swift as the Opposition pounced on the emotive issue of evictions and stubbornly high rents.
So what does all this mean ahead of the implementation of the rental changes and is the Government's big plan to reform the rental sector dead on arrival?
Rental changes
Back in June, Minister for Housing James Browne unveiled sweeping changes to the rental market.
From later that month, the entire country would become a rent pressure zone with annual rent increases for continuing tenancies limited to either 2% or inflation, whichever was lower.
But the bigger changes require new legislation and will come into force from March 2026.
Critically, small landlords would be defined as those with three or fewer tenancies.
They would have to offer rental agreements of at least six years with limited circumstances for ending a tenancy.
At the end of the six years, rent can be reset or it can also be reset if a tenant leaves voluntarily.
In particular, landlords may only sell in cases of financial hardship or where a family member requires the property.
For large landlords, no fault evictions would be effectively ended.
The aim is to provide greater protection for tenants while also attracting private sector investment at a time when investment funds are telling the Government that the sector was no longer profitable.
In June, all Opposition parties railed against the changes, criticising the move as baking in large rent hikes every six years.
What has happened?
Roll on five months and the ramifications of the impending changes are clear.
Small landlords are leaving in their droves.
The data indicates that nearly two thirds of these are exiting the market with the intention of selling up before the changes take effect.
Others are signalling that the property will be taken over by a family member.
Professor Michelle Norris, former member of the Housing Commission and Director of the Geary Institute for Public Policy in UCD, said the new rent regulations are "less attractive to smaller landlords".
For one organisation representing smaller landlords, this proves that the new rules are too onerous.
The Irish Property Owners Association said the data, combined with extensive anecdotal evidence, shows that many are leaving specifically to avoid becoming locked in what it says is an over-regulated market that favours tenants over landlords.
The impending changes can certainly be blamed for some of these exits, but the full picture is more complex.
Rosemary Steen, Director of the Rental Tenancies Board (RTB), has pointed out that there is always turnover in landlords.
Others have added that there are some accidental landlords who could not sell during the crash as they were in negative equity.
The uplift in house prices means they are now in a position to sell.
Minister Browne made it very clear that he is not for turning on the reforms, saying the aim remains to increase supply and reduce rents.
But there is also a Government view that some landlords may not be completely clear about the new rules.
To address this, an information campaign will be rolled out by the RTB to explain the new regime.
Politician fallout
The issue erupted into a blistering row at Leaders' Questions in the Dáil on Thursday.
Sinn Féin said the figures showed that rents are out of control as a direct result of Government policy.
Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Finance Pearse Doherty said the Government was abandoning ordinary people and letting the market run wild.
And he restated party policy that rents should be frozen for the next three years.
Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris accused Mr Doherty of selectively quoting statistics.
Mr Harris said that 62% of properties nationally saw no rent increase in the last year, according to the RTB.
He also said the extension of rent pressure zones nationwide will offer tenants more protections.
His overall view was to concede that while the housing emergency remains, there are signs of encouragement.
Social Democrats Spokesperson on Housing Rory Hearne said the new rules have created massive uncertainty in the rental market and resulted in a tsunami of evictions.
And with homeless figures rising yet again yesterday, Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin called for an immediate ban on no faulty evictions.
But he also believes the Government approach is fundamentally flawed.
"The solution to the crisis is not to be found in the private rented sector. We need more social, affordable and private for purchase homes. These three key areas of undersupply in housing are not being targeted by Government."
The Government would dispute this with the Minister for Housing repeatedly stating that he has been focused on rolling changes to tackle the motley of problems in the housing market.
Undoubtedly the prospect of more evictions is toxic for the Government.
The six-year threshold seems set with the hope that by the time rents can be reset en masse in 2032, a big rise in rental stock will put a cap on rent hikes.
The coalition is also banking on other recent changes having a positive effect in the coming months.
One of those is the new ringfenced funding to acquire second-hand family homes for those in emergency accommodation.
And there has been a streamlining of the approval process for local authorities to turn around more social housing.
It's clear that in the near term, the strained rental market will be a running sore for Government.
It is banking on changes yielding positive results in the future but that uplift is likely to be some time away.
And the political consequences of a spectacular backfiring would be brutal.
