Mattie McGrath Warns Against Demonising Landlords in Housing Debate
Mattie McGrath spoke in a 13 July 2022 housing debate, arguing that landlords are being unfairly demonised and that policy choices are driving many from the rental market. He warned that closures of bedsits and rising taxation and regulation risk worsening homelessness and prompting notices to quit.
Criticism of landlord demonisation
The speaker said the debate often descends into demonising and "plagiarising" landlords, stressing that the vast majority are decent people while acknowledging there are some rogues. He criticised what he described as a governmental focus on large conglomerates and big groups.
Policy pressures and market exits
McGrath argued that increasing taxation and regulatory pressure will force landlords to exit the market, saying many do not hold second properties and are becoming unable or unwilling to continue letting. He cautioned that pruning supply in this way will reduce available housing.
Bedsit closures and homelessness
He pointed to a decision in Dublin that closed "a thousand bedsits" overnight, saying those bedsits would now be much needed by homeless people. He underscored the tension between improving accommodation standards and maintaining available places to house vulnerable people.
Local pressures and notices to quit
The TD described his constituency office as overran with people bringing notices to quit, often from "accidental" or incidental landlords who have become fed up. He said many landlords are leaving because letting is no longer viable or tenable for them.
Tenants and property damage
While emphasising that there are "lots and lots of good tenants," he also warned that some very bad tenants have done enormous damage to properties. He used this to explain some landlords' frustrations and decisions to leave the market.
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I want to thank the movers of this debate here this morning. It's very important but how many more times are we going to debate it and we're going to discuss it and the huge problem is getting more acute by the week, literally. And it's an awful situation. So we then come in and we start demonising and you know plagiarising all landlords as bad. The vast majority of landlords are decent people and there are some rogues and the government here seem to be infatuated with the big conglomerates and big group, big Italy's that are multi and because we can see that in a daily basis. So I don't know, I haven't decided but it's very very difficult and it's so hard on people to try. But then again we have a camera here in Dublin and a thousand bedsits we closed down with one day in a stroke of a pen. So we can't have our cake and eat it. We can't just close down these places. I'm sure many people would be glad of those bedsits if they had them now. Very glad of them. The homeless people especially. And I'm not saying they should live in an inferior accommodation run like that. I'm not. But I'm saying if you keep pruning away and keep driving landlords out of the market with the amount of taxation and the amount of... I don't have any second properties later on anything else. So I'm just saying looking at it from the outside. If you keep taxing them and bordering them they will exit. My office is overran. I want to take my staff in the office. But people come here every day with notice to quit. Because of, not good reasons, but above all the reason is because it's not viable. Or if they don't find it tenable anymore to remain in. These are incidental or accidental landlords, whatever you want to call them. They just fed up with it. And there are some very bad tenants. There are lots and lots of good tenants. There are some very bad tenants. And they have done enormous damage to properties as well. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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