Sir, – If Michael McDowell’s account of Sinn Féin’s proposal to make it illegal for landlords to evict tenants after six months is accurate, it seems likely that the party’s populist attempt to attract the tenant vote may backfire badly on their target audience as landlords rush to exit the private rental market before Sinn Féin gets into government (“Sinn Féin’s housing policy effectively serves notice to quit on private landlords”, Opinion & Analysis, August 24th). Many current tenants might not thank Sinn Féin when they find themselves out on the street.
A more constructive idea might be to incentivise landlords to keep tenants, for example by giving them progressive tax rebates or progressively reducing the tax rate on rental income the longer a tenant is in residence.
On the other hand, if Sinn Féin’s objective is to kill off the long-term private rental sector, this policy would certainly be one way to do it. – Yours, etc,
FRANK E BANNISTER,
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Dublin 4.
