The delay in rolling out the new rent control legislation measures for cities like Galway could end up ‘severely worsening’ the situation for many tenants, a city councillor has warned.
Labour councillor, Niall McNelis, said that while the speedy implementation of legislation for Dublin and Cork ‘made sense’ for those places, it made none at all to leave Galway out of the equation.
He said that landlords in Galway had now been ‘tipped off’ that they had a three to four-month window to ‘up their rents’ before being caught by legislation.
However this assertion has been disputed by West Galway Fine Gael TD and Minister of Sate, Sean Kyne, who said that the two year rental freeze – put in place by the previous FG/Labour Governemnt – still remained in force.
According to Cllr. McNelis, the new legislation should have encompassed all the rent pressure zones across the country, including Galway, ‘in the one sweep’.
“It really is very clumsy and unfair to bring this in for Dublin and Cork and to leave out the other major population centres in the country.
“Every dog in the street knows that there are pressures on rents here in Galway with its burgeoning student population and the number of young families seeking a place to live.
“I really don’t think that it should have been beyond the competence of the Minister to ensure, that when the legislation is introduced, that it will include all the rent pressure zones at the one time,” said Cllr. McNelis.
According to West Galway Fine Gael TD and Minister of State, Sean Kyne, he wants work to ‘start immediately’ on the designation of Galway as a Rent Pressure Zone.
For the rest of this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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