A REGISTER CONTAINING a breakdown of costs across Ireland’s private rental sector is set to be created and made accessible to the public under plans being brought forward by Housing Minister James Browne.

It is understood Browne will bring a memo to Cabinet to approve the priority drafting of legislation to provide greater transparency around what rent landlords are setting and to prevent price gouging.

This will also provide for hearings held by the regulator, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), to take place in public in future in a bid to further transparency.

RTB hearings are quasi-judicial settings where landlords and tenants can settle disputes.

It is understood the Department of Housing has held a series of webinars with landlord and property sector representatives, as well as meeting tenant advocates and RTB officials.

The legislation will also solidify the government’s announcement earlier this year which placed the entire country in a rent pressure zone, meaning that rent is capped at 2% or inflation.

The upcoming bill will provide the legal framework for the establishment of a publicly accessible rent register, and strengthening the legislative provisions relating to market prices.

A resetting of rent will be allowed for tenancies that begin on or after 1 March next year where a tenancy terminates of the tenant’s own volition. Rent may also be reset if the landlord terminates the tenancy due to breach of the tenant’s obligations.

It will also cement the government’s plan to categorise landlords with up to three tenancies as ‘smaller landlords’. All landlords with four or more tenancies will be considered as larger landlords.