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<i>"We wish to strengthen protection against evictions for those who are renting and the legislation would remove the so-called no-fault evictions and provide tenancy of indefinite duration," Ms Bacik said.<br />
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"<b>It would remove the ground which allows the landlord to terminate tenancy on the basis that they intend to sell the property in three months </b>and put curbs on evictions for the purposes of refurbishment or for passing the properties on to family members."<br />
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According to a report from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), the main reason behind eviction notices are landlords declaring an intent to sell the property.<br />
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"This is the primary cause of families entering homelessness," Ms Bacik added.<br />
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"The second challenge is that of unaffordable rents and deposits.<br />
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"<b>We have called for a three-year rent freeze and we believe that is essential.</b>"<br />
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The Dublin Bay South TD also said the change to annual rent increases was "not sufficient" to tackle rising rents.<br />
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The Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien said in July that rent increases in rent pressure zones would be based on inflation instead of set caps.<br />
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Ms Bacik said: "<b>Our Bill would also declare the entire state a rent pressure zone and cap deposits at one month's rent.</b><br />
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"We know that in Ireland, <b>renters face a whole range of different restrictive measures in their leases which prevent them from seeing their rented home as a permanent one.</b><br />
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"In other European countries, it is common for renters to be able to keep pets in their home and to request an unfurnished property so they can move their own furniture in.<br />
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"(The legislation) would provide for the right to rent unfurnished and rule against a complete prohibition on keeping pets.<br />
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"We need to ensure that renting becomes a long-term viable and sustainable option and ensure we have cultural shift <b>to skew away from this vision of renting, always in terms of the landlord and their investment and their income, and instead skew our policy back, rightly somewhat, towards renters and towards seeing rental properties as homes."</b><br />
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Mr O'Brien, who <b>said the Government would not oppose the Bill</b>, said any new measures should be "fair".<br />
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He added: "Any new measure must be capable of withstanding legal challenge too, including a constitutional challenge.<br />
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"In relation to supply we can accept there are acute pressures in the rental market, driven by a number of factors but predominately rising demand for rental accommodation.<br />
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"The long-term solution for the high levels of rent lies in an increase in supply as well as providing transparency and consistency around rent levels."<br />
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Sinn Fein's Eoin O Broin criticised comments by Tanaiste Leo Varadkar that there needs to be "a balance" between the regulation of rents and landlords' income.<br />
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Mr Varadkar said on Tuesday that "one person's rent is another person's income".<br />
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Mr O Broin said those comments portrayed "an appalling ignorance" of the reality of the rental market.<br />
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He told the Dail: "I think the very widespread reaction to the Tanaiste's comments is evidence there is no balance in the rights between landlords and tenants in the current market.<br />
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"That's why we have seen a doubling of rent across the state over the last number of years.<br />
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"That's why we continue to see a large number of tenants evicted on spurious grounds and have so many rental properties that don't meet minimum standards.<br />
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"He tried to present himself as the champion of the small landlord. I have to say if I was an accidental or semi-professional landlord, I would be most critical of the repeated failure of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to do anything to stop the disorderly exit of the accidental landlords from the market."<br />
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That's the final straw for my rental plans in Ireland. Looking towards Poland now.</div>
