The Gazette 1984

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1984

Rent Restrictions: An Ongoing Problem

by Sophia Carey

This article by a student on the Journalism Course at the College of Commerce, Rathmines, Dublin. has been selected for the Law Society's Journalism Award 1984. Students are required to write an article for a newspaper or periodica! on some matter of legal interest. The Award is made by a Committee representative of the Law Society and the Director of the Journalism Course.

T HE longstanding landlord/tenant conflict has erupted into the Dail and the courts with increasing regularity over the last three years. Since the removal of any form of rent control in 1981 "hard luck stories" from both sides have proliferated. For landlords, restricted rent was an intolerable injustice which prevented them from making any form of profit, and which forced them to allow their premises to run into disrepair. For tenants, it could mean the difference between an adequate lifestyle and bare subsistence. A Í981 Supreme Court decision, declaring the 1960 Rent Restrictions Act to be unconstitutional, was the catalyst which launched the debate to the forefront of public attention, and put landlord and tenant at logger- heads in various messy court cases. The 1960 Act was one of a number of revisions to a 1923 Act which froze the rents of around 40,000 "rent- controlled dwellings" at a post First World War level. It was originally intended to keep rents at the same level as when the troops left for the front. By the 1980's, however, not only was rent restriction still in existence, but rents had been kept at a level judged fair almost 60 years before. In some cases, this could be as low as £1 a week. By making the Act a permanent feature of our legisla- tion, governments were relieving themselves of the necessity of providing cheap accommodation from their own funds. "Renewing the Act was a useful thing for government to do" says Mr. Patrick Madigan, who successfully challenged the constitutionality of the 1960 Act. "It cost them no money, and threw housing over onto the private sector." In effect, they were forcing landlords to subsidise tenants. The problems facing the present government spring largely from their predecessors' failure to make any allowances for the injustices facing landlords. For his part, Mr. Madigan says that had government made an effort to allow landlords a reasonable return on their premises he would never have taken his action. He had, for example, asked them to include a section allowing reasonable rents under the Grounds Rent Bill, but had met with refusal. Mrs. Sarah Murphy of the Private Tenants Action Gr oup is in agreement with Mr. Madigan on this point. If the government had acted many years earlier, the problems which tenants are facing would not be as acute. "The low rents were not the fault of the tenant," she !254

said. "The rents were controlled by decree, and no-one is disputing their lowness. It is the sudden massive increase which tenants object to." The removal of any form of rent control meant that landlords were now free to charge whatever rent they wished, and tenants could face increases of over 300% overnight. The government was forced to take action to protect tenants who had, as Mr. Madigan puts it, "planted apple trees in the garden". How could they deal with a tenant who had expected to live out their lives in a £1 a week home? So far, their attempts to impose order on the situation have resulted in failure of one sort or another. Temporary FICHET BAUCHE HARTY LTD. FIRE PROTECTION CABINETS We supply a range of fire protection cabinets for paper documents and computer media which are fully V.D.M.A. tested. SAFES Large and small cash safes including rotary deposit safes. We can also advise on the extra security provided by time locks. SECURITY DOORS Full range of doors for strong rooms, document rooms, cash offices etc. Fichet-Bauche Marty Ltd. Crossbeg Industrial Estate. Ballymount Road Upper,Dublin 24. ^ g i U g ^ Phone 500944, 521931.