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# Evictions
National housing agency says tenants face evictions over repossessions
Threshold has called for the new government to amend laws so as that tenants’ rights will be protected.
THE NATIONAL HOUSING agency Threshold has warned that thousands of tenants face evictions from houses bought by landlords during the boom but that the owners can now no longer afford.
Threshold has told TheJournal.ie it is getting a new case every week of tenants seeking help as they face eviction because their landlords have defaulted on mortgages for properties bought at the height of the economic boom.
Tenants are also struggling to get their deposit back from the receiver or the bank that has repossessed a property.
The charity is concerned that many of the 500,000 people in Ireland in the private rental sector could also fall victim to house repossessions.
They’re calling for the legislation that protects tenants, the Residential Tenancies Act, to be amended so as that there is adequate protection for tenants.
“We need legal clarity in this complex area,” Kevin Baneham, Threshold’s legal officer said.
Baneham said he would also encourage the new government to look at setting up a deposit protection scheme in Ireland whereby a deposit paid for the rent of a property goes to a third party as opposed to the landlord directly.
Baneham believes this would be effective in solving the problem of deposit disputes that involves millions of euro in Ireland every year.
