Landlords will only be allowed to increase residential rents every two years under a new housing plan agreed by the Government.
The plan, that needs final approval from the Cabinet next week, sees Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly's promise to give rent certainty by linking any rises to inflation, abandoned.
Instead the current practice of annual rent reviews will be changed to a review every two years, and will last for at least the next four years.
Any increases will also only be allowed at the market level.
Also included in the package are efforts to get more apartments built in Dublin, and 100% tax relief on mortgage interest where landlords rent to those receiving assistance.
The Father Peter McVerry Trust has welcomed the move towards rent certainty, but CEO Pat Doyle has said the law needs to be changed quickly to avoid landlords hiking prices while they still can.
“It will allow some of the other initiatives such as the NAMA Housing stock that is coming into play and the Ministers own capital housing building programme,” Mr Doyle said.
“It will allow all those initiatives to take place and it will calm the market down. The key issue here for us, they need to rush the legislation through immediately in order to make sure there isn’t a spike and a rise in rents.”
