May 2024
Below please find the main recommendations of the Report of the Housing Commission for the Private Rental Sector.
#31. Balance the rights and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords through a programme of legislative and regulatory reforms to make the private rental sector more attractive to both parties.
#32. Deliver cost-rental housing at scale and transition to cost-rental as the main form of supply for both affordable and social rented accommodation to:
- address the challenges in maintaining the supply of rental housing;
- assist in addressing affordability challenges in the private rented sector;
- enable social housing providers to accommodate households with a wider mix of incomes in their housing developments.
#33. Regulate market rents fairly and effectively by reforming the current system of rent regulation and establishing a system of ‘Reference Rents’. This reform should be informed by evidence-based reviews on the impact of regulated market rents on rented housing supply, accessibility and affordability. Such reviews should be conducted on a regular basis and rent regulations amended where appropriate.*
#34. Reform and consolidate standards for rented dwellings through a single, nationwide dwelling standards risk-based inspection process. This should include all forms of rented housing, including private, social and cost-rental.
#35. Amend the standards for rental accommodation in private and cost-rental homes to enable the letting of accommodation without white goods appliances.
#36. Regulate the landlord functions of local authority-owned dwellings and formalise the local authority/tenant relationship.
#37. Amalgamate regulatory agencies involved in regulating rental accommodation under the remit of a single regulatory authority, and strengthen the enforcement powers.
#38. Implement reforms to ensure a more effective enforcement model for the rental sector that works for both tenants and landlords.
#39. Reform the Housing Assistance Payment and the Rental Accommodation Scheme, resetting them as short- to medium-term support measures for households eligible for social housing. Such households must remain on the social housing list, except where their income levels increase above the eligibility criteria for social housing.
#40. Initiate a review of the current legislation and regulations relating to Multi-Unit Developments.
Link to the Housing Commission Recommendation Report Here
Link to the Full Housing Commission Report Here