Retrofitting should not be used as excuse for landlords to evict tenants — Ryan
Landlords Ryan Tenants Be The Were Evict The Effect' Using Not Ensure 'in Monitored' Said Would To Eamon To Scheme 'constantly Situation
Green party leader Eamon Ryan has said landlords will be monitored to ensure tenants are not evicted on the pretext of retrofitting being carried out.
“This has to be regulated [the retrofitting scheme] so landlords don’t use it this way,” said Mr Ryan.
The situation will be “constantly monitored” so it was not used in this way to ensure landlords were not using the scheme to “in effect” evict tenants, he said.
Mr Ryan also said the SEAI website had been overwhelmed overnight since the retrofit grant scheme had been announced. The public were interested.
“People want to do the right thing.”
The vast majority of retrofitting could be carried out externally so people would not have to leave their homes, in situations where it was necessary and people were in social housing then local authorities would assist.
The retrofitting scheme was something that would improve homes, not alone would there be an economic benefit, there was also the health benefit from the comfort of a warm home.
“That is transformative,” he said.
There is a variety of grants available — it would take up to three decades to retrofit the 1.5m homes in the country that needed to be retrofitted, the target was 500,000 homes per decade.
The country’s housing stock had changed in the 1970s when homes began to introduce central heating and this was a similar “switch”, Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan acknowledged it could take 10 to 20 years for the cost of retrofitting to be paid back, but there would be “huge benefits” with the increased value of a home.
The increase in the number of One Stop Shops, which could coordinate all the details, including accessing loans, would be of benefit, he told RTÉ radio’s show.
While “no one is being forced to do it”, the scheme made economic sense, the minister said.
“This is the best way to address the issue.”
He expected to see an “exponential increase” in the level of interest in retrofitting.
“This is tackling the problem at source.”
Mr Ryan also defended the carbon tax, saying the funding from it would go towards schemes such as retrofitting.
“This is good economics.”
It made sense and would improve the quality of life and was something that needed to be done, he said.