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Council unanimously passes motion calling for rent controls

Belfast council has unanimously passed a motion calling for the Northern Ireland Executive to introduce a rent control scheme for the city. 

Under Northern Ireland law, the council itself cannot unilaterally declare a rent control regime, but its proposal to the NI-wide Executive gives options such as capping annual rent increases, preventing rent increases during a tenancy, or introducing a maximum rent rate.

The motion came from Belfast councillor Mal O’Hara, who is deputy leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland.

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He says: “We are facing a housing crisis in Belfast. Almost 12,000 people are on the housing waiting list. We need to act with urgency. Having an affordable, warm and decent home should be a right, not a privilege.

“Rent controls are not a new idea. The private rental market in the UK was regulated for most of the 20th century, with the last regulations only being abolished in 1989. Rent controls are common across Europe, in place in major cities such as Berlin and Paris, and the Scottish Greens have recently guaranteed the introduction of rent controls in Scotland. Renters in Belfast deserve the same protections.

“With the five Executive [political] parties choosing not to keep the Universal Credit uplift, rising fuel costs, rises in National Insurance contribution, and wages stagnation, rent is becoming an increasing pressure on families’ budgets.

"Green councillors worked hard to secure unanimous support across the Council for this motion. Support from all parties suggests this should be an easy legislative change to make. Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey is currently bringing a Private Tenancies Bill … She has an opportunity to include Rent Controls in this legislation. Now is the time for the Executive to step in and protect renters from further unaffordable rent increases."

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    What is it with these idiots who selectively refer to other rent-control cities without ever mentioning the completely different systems of regulation and taxation in those places? It’s only ever a case of hitting the landlord without ever understanding the full facts of how those places actually work. Plus, this fool wants a tightening on rental restrictions whilst bemoaning the lack of rental housing! Let’s see how his waiting list looks once the privateers are totally gone!

  • George Dawes

    The entire green agenda is a tissue of lies

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    The entire green agenda is one big joke

     
    Peter  Yednell

    I don't think Global Warming is a joke & I would like to support green parties and am prepared to take an economic hit to pay for actual green policies.. But rent controls for the UK don't work. It reduces supply and quality (as decent landlords will sell up to slum landlords who still squeeze a profit). The UK Green Party have supported rent controls for a long while.. Which is why I no longer donate to them.. My written complaints to them on their rent policies receiving waffle responses..

     
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    It is delusional to think that rent controls will increase supply.

  •  G romit

    These virtue signalling Councillor know diddly-squat about the housing market, read that rent controls have been introduced elsewhere, not even bothered to find out how unsuccessful they've been, and decide its a good idea to introduce them in Belfast.
    Yet THEY decide not to keep the Universal Credit uplift, or cap rising fuel costs but decide to cap rents when for the most part they're not rising.
    WHO ARE THESE IDIOTS.

  • George Dawes

    This took 5 seconds of google , obviously beyond most public sector employees ;

    New research examining how rent control affects tenants and housing markets offers insight into how rent control affects markets. While rent control appears to help current tenants in the short run, in the long run it decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative spillovers on the surrounding neighborhood.

  • George Dawes

    That’s the council and politicians = short term thinking , anything to get a vote and keep them on the gravy train while we’re all taxed into oblivion

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    wtf has it got to do with a council?

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    12000 people on the housing waiting list and they want to implement rent controls? to improve the situation how exactly? Is there not even just one brain cell functioning correctly in these peoples heads???

    Peter  Yednell

    It's popularism.
    Renters like the idea of paying less rent & don't realise that in the long term it harms them. Politicans know this... And most renters think rents are too high when they only reflect actual property prices.. Most landlords struggle to make 4% P. A.

     
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    They cancelled the rent controls in Berlin. The idiot can't even get his facts correct.
    Agree with all the comments above
    Assar Lindbeck “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.”

  • George Dawes

    If populism on the political right corrupts democracies, populism on the left ruins economies. For the latest evidence take a closer look at the housing market of the German capital, Berlin.

    A year ago, a rent cap took effect in the city that was unprecedented in Germany. For all apartments built before 2014, rents were frozen at whatever they were on Jun. 18, 2019. Tenants in those units can also force landlords to lower rents defined as “excessive.”

    The underlying problem was real: Rents in Berlin, a place that was once proud of being grungy and affordable, have soared in recent years as demand from new arrivals far outstripped supply.

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    Surely the council just needs to build 12,000 units of housing which they can then subsidise or price how they want? Build a few more and supply will exceed demand and rents and property prices will come down generally.

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    If the Council ever got its act together to build more homes, I think solvent renters would be willing to pay a premium to be as far away as possible from these 12000 subsidised council tenants.

     
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