It is falling on tenants to enforce a max increase of 2% in Rent Reviews, despite their precarious position due to a shortage of housing.
That's according to the Assistant Manager of the Tenancy Protection Service of Threshold in Cork, Conor Lynch.
Yesterday, the Minister of Housing announced that local authorities will be allowed increase the Housing Assistance Programme discretionary payment by 35 per cent.
The rate in Dublin was already at 50 per cent and will remain so.
The couples rate will be expanded to include single people.
Speaking to RedFM News, Conor Lynch says that tenants will often pay above the allowed rent increase just to keep a roof over their heads:
"A big part of the issue is, it's up to the tenant to bring cases to the Residential Tenancies Board. The enforcement is pretty much placed on the tenant. But the tenant is not in a position of power to always raise these issues, because they're worried about the future. People will pay just to keep the head down, to keep a roof over their heads, and they often won't dispute the Rent Review. The RTB - yeah, they certainly have brought cases against landlords; there's absolutely no doubt about it. But the bigger picture is consistently that when reports come out from the RTB and Daft - they show that rents are going above what's allowed in Rent Pressure Zones".
