The government must come up with a solution to protect tenants as figures reveal that landlords are continuing to leave the market.
The call comes from Sinn Fein as figures from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland reveal that 4 in every 10 house sales in 2022 was a small landlord exiting the rental market in the final three months of the year.
The rental market has shrunk by 43,000 homes in the last five years according to an unpublished draft survey by the Residential Tenancies Board
Sinn Fein's spokesperson on housing Eoin O'Broin said local authorities should be able to purchase properties being sold by landlords:
"What I'd like to see government do is find a way to ensure that, as those landlords sell up, and they're perfectly entitled to do so, the tenants remain in situ. That could mean, for example, more acquisitions of those rental properties by local authorities at market value, to keep Social Rental tenants in situ, but also allowing approved housing bodies to purchase those properties to leave the tenants in place as affordable cost rental tenants".
