NEWLY ANNOUNCED MEASURES by the Government to address the ongoing housing crisis will only stagnate the market and have a “chilling effect on both housing supply and investor confidence”, according to the national residential landlords’ association.

The Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA) is to address the Housing Committee this afternoon. It will highlight its concerns regarding the impact on the rental sector of various measures recently announced. 

In June, the Government announced its “major reforms” that it would be implementing in an attempt to “boost investment” to increase the housing supply. One of the most spoken about measures was the entire country falling under the umbrella of a Rent Pressure Zone – aside from new build apartments. 

Of the IPOA’s concerns, it will particularly highlight the definition of a “large landlord” as being unsuitable due to it being based on a landlord’s tenancies rather than the number of properties owned. This, it will argue, will impact the most affordable rung on the property ladder: house shares.

House shares are particularly common for students, recent graduates, and people on lower incomes. The IPOA will say that the classification of a landlord with four tenancies – which it believes could potentially all be within one property – as a “large landlord” and is therefore subject to different regulations will dissuade landlords from renting their properties to multiple separate people.

The IPOA will also state its opposition to tenant-in-situ sales. It will cite Property Market Intel research that states that selling with tenants in situ – with the new property owners essentially inheriting the tenancy agreement from the former landlord – reduces the value of a property by up to 40%.

The most pressing issue, its spokesperson will say, is the restriction on who landlords can sell their properties to. It will flag massive drops in investment by landlords. It will also say that the Government is opening the door for economic evictions, as it may be more profitable for landlords to keep their properties vacant until the regulations kick in next March so that they can sell without tenants in situ.

“We now face a nine-month freeze until 1 March 2026,” its spokesperson will say in the opening address. “The uncertainty faced by landlords, paired with the market restrictions, could have a chilling effect on both supply and investor confidence.

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“It is not reasonable to expect private landlords to shoulder the responsibility for lifelong housing provision. That is the role of the Government.”

Countering the IPOA, national housing charity Threshold will say that it believes that the security of tenure elements of the proposals are “fair and balanced”.

“It will give tenants at least six years of security if their landlords is a small landlord while still allowing these landlords will still be able to take possession of their property at certain points. The proposals also recognise that larger landlords operate on an entirely different financial model.”

It will say that alongside changes to Rent Pressure Zones, the proposed limitations on no fault evictions will enable the Government to “potentially transform the rental landscape from one of short-term uncertainty to longer-term stability.”