A spokesperson for the Irish Property Owners Association has called for the amount of deposits to be left to the discretion of landlords rather than a specific time scale as proposed under new regulations being discussed in the Dáil today.
Margaret McCormack told RTÉ radio’s Today show that landlords were “the ones taking the risk” and so the amount of the deposit should be left up to them.
The new protections being suggested and the existing protections were all in favour of the tenants, she said. There was a lengthy process with which landlords had to engage if they wanted tenants who had not paid their rent to leave. It could take up to 18 months, she said, during which time they were not receiving any income and yet had a mortgage to pay.
The person who loses the most is the landlord.
Ms McCormack said there was only a small number of renters in trouble because of the existing supports and that most landlords were being very helpful while negotiating with the banks, but that there was “nothing there” to help landlords.
“They need to be able to manage risk.”
Ms McCormack also pointed out that in a survey at the end of 2019, 71 per cent of her members had said that they did not receive money they were awarded through judgements by the Rental Tenancies Board.
