Sir, –Once again Michael McDowell has nailed it with his piece (Opinion, June 15th) writing about the Government, through its many agencies, driving the private residential landlord out of the market.
The Residential Tenancies Board appears to operate to its own remit, jacking up its already heavy handed requirements on an annual basis and always anti-landlord. The latest increase in the registration charge to €40 a year from a previous €90 every four years was imposed without any discussion ensuring it can further expand its draconian remit.
No problem though, in restricting rental increases to 2 per cent a year.
The private residential landlord cohort is slowly being annihilated by a combination of State bodies such as the RTB, Revenue, and the Department of Housing.
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Meanwhile the same bodies are bending over backwards to entice non-tax paying Reits and other funds to invest in the residential sector with they, in turn, are the ones in the main securing the headline rents.
With interest rates on the move globally, the interest of such entities in yields of about 4 per cent on Irish property will wane and the powers that be will wonder what happened to all the private, taxpaying landlords. – Your, etc,
MICHAEL GILMARTIN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.