asked the Minister for Justice if it is proposed to amend the law in order to protect tenants whose landlords neglect to collect rents over a considerable time and then threaten to evict the tenants for non-payment of that rent.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rent Collection Legislation.
48.
I have had no complaints about any practice of the kind the Deputy mentions and I have no proposals for a change in the law in relation to it. However, the landlord and Tenant Commission are there to examine problems of this kind and I would suggest that the matter the Deputy mentions be brought to the attention of the commission.
In two areas in the city, tenants are facing mass evictions because the landlords have not collected rents for years and I am afraid that a court may well give a decree in each case. We are faced with mass evictions both in my constituency and in the north side of the city. I think the law needs to be amended in this regard.
The Deputy may take it that the law will not permit a situation like that to arise. Invariably the courts would give relief to tenants if non-payment of rent were due to neglect on the part of the landlord. The law would not permit the landlord to devise a situation in which he would find himself in a position of advantage over the tenant. If he sought ejectment on those grounds he would not be successful in the courts.