In the north inner-city, tenants of 15 years evicted so council can buy their home
Dublin City Council is buying 40 homes in the Northbank apartments. It is not clear how many tenants have been evicted for the deal to proceed.
Within the first six months of this year, the RTB spent more on hiring rooms for hearings than it did for all of last year.
Genna Patterson and Kevin Murray say they wanted to flag how the rent had gone up in their old apartment, but were frustrated by the rules.
Iness and Michel Lunga went to the council, the RTB and the Gardaí for help, but last week had to move out. A previous tenant says he went through something similar.
Six months ago, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy announced plans for a cap on the deposit a landlord can ask for from a renter. It’s not in place yet.
Ultimately, the RTB is based on the logic that the most vulnerable actor within the rental sector – the tenant – should be tasked with ensuring landlords play by the rules. This simply does not work, writes Mick Byrne.
“No rent allowance or HAP accepted sorry,” said the text alert, even though since 1 January landlords aren’t allowed to discriminate in this way.
People at risk of losing their homes because their rent supplement is inadequate can get top-ups, but many suffer because they don’t know this is possible.