Fair rent, free sale and fixity of tenure were the three famous "Fs" for which the Land League campaigned in the last century. But more than 100 years later, many tenants find themselves subject to arbitrary rent increases or forced to quit their homes with only a month's notice. For a State with such a traumatic history as far as landlords and evictions are concerned, Irish tenants have far fewer rights than their continental counterparts.

In part, this is a reflection of the high rates of home ownership in Irish society. But rising house prices mean that more and more people are unable to get on the property ladder and face long years, if not an entire lifetime, in rental accommodation.

Against this background, the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants are coming under closer scrutiny. The Government, in response to the second report on the property market from Peter Bacon, has agreed in principle to set up a commission to examine issues relating to security of tenure in the private rental sector.

Most players in the market agree that the changing nature of the Irish housing market means things cannot continue as they were when the rental market was mostly confined to students and those in their 20s as they saved up for a deposit on a house. However, where organisations representing landlords and those acting for tenants do not agree is on the nature of that change.

Threshold, the housing advice agency, believes that the two issues that urgently need to be tackled are rents and security of tenure.

Estimates vary, but over the last year, rents have risen steeply, mirroring the increases in the cost of houses. Tenants are now hard pushed to find one-bedroom apartments for less than £500 (€634.87) per month in the Dublin area while bedsits in Cork have been renting for as much as £65 per week.

Ironically, many tenants are being forced to pay rents costing the same as and sometimes more than mortgages for which they have been turned down. The high rents they are paying also make it all but impossible to save a deposit sufficient to buy a house.

But the particular problem that has arisen in recent times is landlords hiking rents in a bid to get what they see as a market rate, leaving tenants who can't afford to pay with no option but to seek new accommodation in an increasingly stretched marketplace. Threshold would like to see controlled rent increases, limited to a certain amount each year and linked to inflation.

"Rent controls should be set as national norms as in other countries. We have national wage agreement here so why not that?" asks Ms Maura O'Neill, regional manager with Threshold.

Above all, the agency believes it is very important that the differential between the cost of renting and buying is restored.

"At the moment, it can be cheaper to buy than to rent which is clearly unfair. This means that poorer people are buying houses for richer people who can acquire the property with full State subsidy," Ms O'Neill says.

However, the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) is opposed to any move to introduce rent controls, fearing that it would result in a reduction in the supply of rental accommodation, driving prices even higher. "There are a lot of things people might have on a wish list which would only serve to curtail investment in the sector and drive landlords away," says Mr Alan Cooke, chief executive of IAVI. "We must have an environment that promotes a vibrant rental sector."

Additionally, property owners argue that rent controls have been found to be unconstitutional in the past and a referendum would have to be held if they were to be re-imposed.

However, the IAVI agrees that the issue of longer leases needs to be addressed and that the six-month and one-year leases which are common in the Irish market may no longer be enough. It believes landlords might be happy to move to three or even five-year leases provided they contained provisions for rent reviews and an opt-out clause in the event that the property owner decided to sell. But this is unlikely to provide much comfort to tenants, particularly those with children trying to build a stable home.

Switching to longer leases would have ramifications for others besides landlords and tenants. Mr Richard O'Sullivan of Christies, a Dublin-based letting agency, points out that the fees charged by estate and rental agents are dependent on properties coming back onto the books each year.

"We would love to see five-year leases but agents would also have to be taken into account. Any changes would require a full review of the way the market is currently structured," Mr O'Sullivan says.

Another proposal put forward by Threshold is the establishment of an independent rental board to adjudicate on the thornier issues that arise between landlords and tenants.

Certainly the current system needs streamlining with both good landlords and good tenants finding it slow and costly to get any redress at present. A tenant who has been wrongfully evicted has no option but to go to court, a time-consuming and expensive procedure, although the Small Claims Court will deal with issues such as unrefunded deposits. Tenants find it even harder to get redress if landlords fail to deal with issues such as repair and maintenance.

Meanwhile, landlords point out that they might only have to give four weeks' notice to quit but it can take much longer to regain possession of a property from tenants who refuse to leave, leaving landlords without any rental income for months.

"You can get one month's rent and one month's deposit from a tenant but if they fail to pay up after that, it can take up to eight months to get them out," Mr Cooke says.

Another issue many believe needs examination is the level of rental relief currently on offer. The current tax allowance for those aged 55 and under in rented accommodation is applied at the standard rate and amounts to just £500 per year for a single person.

It is seen by many as a joke, particularly as many landlords are not registered with the tax authorities and reluctant to take tenants who intend to claim it. However, there are fears in some circles that increasing it will only add fuel to an already inflamed situation, driving rents even higher.

That so much of the private rental market exists in the black economy is another problem and many believe there should be a proper licensing system for landlords involving property inspections to ensure that proper standards are met.

"You need a licence to keep a dog but you don't need a licence to be a landlord," says Ms O'Neill who believes that regulation and codification should pose no threat to good landlords.

However, property owners fear the costs that go with increased bureaucracy. The Government faces a difficult task if it is to strike the right balance between ensuring safe, secure and sensibly-priced accommodation for tenants and returns to landlords sufficient to guarantee a plentiful supply of such homes.