I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the creation of an offence of the forcible ending of a tenancy; to provide for a power to award exemplary damages where an illegal eviction has been found to have occurred; to provide for data exchange between Board and Property Services Regulatory Authority and the Revenue Commissioners in order to establish the identity of landlord of a particular dwelling; for those purposes to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004; and to provide for related matters connected therewith.
Imagine people at home cooking dinner with their children and who then hear a loud bang on the door. When they answer the door, the landlord is there with a group of people they do not recognise, and while they are trying to establish what is taking place, the landlord pushes past into the home and starts to gather their belongings and put them out onto the street. While the person is remonstrating with the landlord not to render them homeless, one of the people they do not recognise is changing the locks on the property.
The problem is that this is happening out of hours and the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, is not answering its phone to provide advice. The person rings the local Garda station and a community garda comes and is very helpful but explains this is a civil matter that he or she cannot involve himself or herself in unless there is a breach of the peace. When the person rings a solicitor, they are told it will take several days to get a District or High Court hearing date to seek an injunction to prevent the illegal eviction.
The tenant may have done nothing wrong. It may be that the landlord simply wants them out. Maybe there is a notice of termination, which is being challenged at the RTB. Maybe the tenant attempted to present for emergency accommodation but the local authority simply could not provide it and, through no fault of their own, the tenant was overholding. Such tenants may possibly have special needs children and while emergency accommodation may have been available, it would not have been suitable. Yet, in front of their eyes, they, their children and their possessions have been thrown out onto the street.
Last year, there were 5,000 notices of termination issued by landlords every quarter, a total of about 20,000 across the year. We simply have no idea how many illegal evictions take place. The number reported in the media is very small, but many more occur without public attention. In fact, in 2020, a very high-profile illegal eviction on Berkeley Road in Dublin provoked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, to contact the RTB. Part of that State-funded body's remit is to provide research and policy recommendations to Government, and he asked it to examine this matter and see if the law needed to be strengthened to ensure illegal evictions can be more effectively combated.
Within a year, the RTB had completed the report for 2021 but was not in a position to submit to the Minister because the illegal eviction in question was in front of the courts. It had to wait until 2022. That year, the RTB gave the Minister the report setting out very clear and strong recommendations for necessary changes to the law for the RTB and An Garda Síochána so as to protect tenants from illegal eviction. The report has sat gathering dust on the desk of the Minister and no action has been taken.
Today, I am introducing First Stage of the Residential Tenancies (Illegal Evictions) (Amendment Bill) 2023. It would put into law the key recommendations of the RTB report to the Minister of almost two years ago. The Bill would make illegal evictions an offence, which would allow for An Garda Síochána to arrest people if the Garda believed they were involved in an illegal eviction.
It would no longer be a civil matter but also a potential criminal matter and the Garda would be able to do that without a warrant. The legislation, as recommended by the RTB, would also seek to fine those involved in such illegal evictions, on foot of an adjudication from the RTB, up to €40,000 which is a very significant disincentive. The legislation would facilitate data sharing between the RTB, the Property Services Regulatory Authority and Revenue. Crucially, it would expand the definition of "improper conduct" by a landlord to include the use of force or intimidation to illegally evict a tenant. I am sure the Minister of State, as a constituency politician, has come across cases where a landlord may not have physically evicted a tenant but used pressure, threats and other intimidating behaviour to force a tenant, who did not know his or her full rights, to leave a property.
This legislation is not a set of Sinn Féin proposals. These proposals are from the RTB and are based on a very important report commissioned by the Minister which, unfortunately, he has not yet acted on. It is my intention not only to introduce the Bill on First Stage today but to seek leave to introduce it on Second Stage at the earliest opportunity. Illegal evictions are wrong and it does not matter how many take place or if they are small or large in number. If the Government's own advisory body on matters of regulation of the private residential sector is recommending change, it is incumbent on the Government to make that change. We are helping the Government by providing the legislation and I look forward to securing Government support when we introduce the Bill on Second Stage.
