THE LABOUR PARTY will today table a Bill that would ban no-fault evictions for three years.

A “no-fault eviction” is when a landlord ends a tenancy even though the tenant hasn’t done anything wrong.

The party’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan has said that “record homelessness and soaring eviction notices demand urgent and decisive Government action”.

The most recent homelessness figures showed that a record 17,517 people are in emergency accommodation, including 5,571 children.

He’s called on all TDs to “back the Bill to give renters immediate protection and stability”.

Sheehan pointed to figures from the Residential Tenancies Board which show that termination notices increased by 41% at the end of last year ahead of the government’s sweeping changes to the rental sector.

Sheehan said this is a “stark indication of a rental market that is failing tenants at every turn”.

He said the legislation that will be introduced today will “deliver what renters across the country are crying out for, a three-year ban on no-fault evictions to stop the relentless churn pushing people into homelessness”.

He added that renters “deserve stability and security in their homes, not constant fear of eviction through no fault of their own”.

Sheehan said the “time for talking is over” and that “we cannot continue to tolerate a system where people are one notice away from homelessness”.

“We have seen rents double over the past decade and rise dramatically since the pandemic, while wages have not kept pace,” said Sheehan.

“This is not sustainable and it is not acceptable.”

Sheehan said the Labour Bill is “practical, targeted and necessary” and that it “mirrors emergency measures taken during the pandemic”.

He added that the situation for renters today is “just as severe” as during the pandemic.

“We need to make evictions a thing of the past,” said Sheehan, “not a routine feature of a broken housing system.”