Comments on: Rent assistance rates slashed by up to 29% – set to change Irish residential rental market

By: CSO reports Irish residential rents rising 3.1% annually « NAMA Wine Lake

CSO reports Irish residential rents rising 3.1% annually « NAMA Wine Lake — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:53:41 +0000

[...] a 3.0% increase (mostly recorded in February and October 2011). At the start of January 2012, the Department of Social Protection reduced its rent assistance payments by up to 29% (an average of 13%) and the Department says that some 40% of the rented market in the [...]

By: Ahura M

Ahura M — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:42:27 +0000

This topic was covered by RTE 9pm news.

It included this noteworthy comment from Margaret McCormick from a group called the Irish Property Owners Association…..

” … unacceptable that the market rent is being forced down by the government.”

hmmm.

By: Dreaded_estate

Dreaded_estate — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:45:26 +0000

Average rents as of 15th of Jan

By: namawinelake

namawinelake — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:15:36 +0000

@KOR, I agree with you that €22m is being reported in several media outlets as the saving on the rent assistance allowance.I’m merely saying that the Budget 2012 document which sets out in detail the savings to be made, says that the adjustment to “increase minimum contribution and review rent limits” is to deliver savings of €55m. Maybe €33bn is to come from increasing the minimum contribution.

By: Seamus Coffey

Seamus Coffey — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:10:17 +0000

The Census 2006 figure of 128,696 is for rented accommodation that was furnished or part-furnished. There were also 16,621 in unfurnished rental accommodation. That gives 145,317.

Also from what I can see there were 1,469,521 households in the 2006 Census. That gives a rental rate of around 9.9%. There were also 21,701 who were “occupied free of rent”. Applying that to the implied number of households in 2011 gives 170,000 households renting. Given the stalling of the property market I would guess it is higher.

By: Despero

Despero — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:50:17 +0000

You are right the government are tying themselves up in knots protecting the elites. They will not make a decision based on what is good for the country. They produced a fictional constitutional opinion, as you say, never published, to state they could not give commercial tenants market rents, when at all times they had the opinion of the top constitutional lawyer Gerard Hogan who said there was no difficulty and that the government could bring in the legislation. Extracts of Gerard Hogans opinion were published on this blog under the title “Fine Gael called “LIARS” in metre-high headlines on Grafton Street premises”.
In relation to the rent supplement, it was the political decision to move away from the council housing system to using private developers that has created the current mess and left vulnerable people dependent on often sub- standard private builders e.g. Priory Hall and the rent supplement. The building boom was partly driven by the rent supplement system. One piggy backed on the other and the system is unsustainable. This is just the start of the dismantling of the rent supplement system.

By: KOR

KOR — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:50:16 +0000

No, I think YOU’VE over egged the decrease……

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/landlords-hit-as-rent-welfare-cut-2989650.html

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0116/rent.html

Unless there’s some spin going on.

By: namawinelake

namawinelake — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:10:35 +0000

@KOR, thanks. I wonder is the IT mixing up the saving on the mortgage interest supplement payment which is shown on page 14 of the Budget 2012 document at €22.5m.

http://budget.gov.ie/budgets/2012/Documents/Summary%20of%202012%20Budget%20and%20Estimates%20Measures%20Policy%20Changes.pdf

By: KOR

KOR — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:00:42 +0000

Source

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0116/breaking50.html

I think there is real problem working from the maximums when actual practice may be closer to the new limits. A 4.4% seems realistic to me, but the real problem, as I said, is where this is going.

By: namawinelake

namawinelake — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:59:59 +0000

@KOR, not sure where the €22m comes from in your comment but the Budget 2012 document projects savings of €55m per annum (page 14 of the attached)

http://budget.gov.ie/budgets/2012/Documents/Summary%20of%202012%20Budget%20and%20Estimates%20Measures%20Policy%20Changes.pdf

This is to come from “increase minimum contribution and review rent limits” so less than €55m will come from rent limit reductions. The simple average reduction is 13%.