Renters are bracing themselves for a “tsunami of evictions” after the latest evictions figures showed there were almost 4,500 notices to quit issued in the last three months of 2022 alone.
The massive spike comes as rental supply remains at an all-time low and just two days after the Government pulled the rug on renters by lifting the ban on evictions that was in place.
Housing charity Simon Community said this means there are now nearly 7,500 vulnerable renters at risk of eviction over the next three months.
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Threshold said that the numbers facing evictions now is heaping further pressure on housing charities like themselves.
Social Democrats housing spokesman, Cian O’Callaghan, said the perfect storm that has now presented could lead to a predicted tsunami of evictions.
And Sinn Féin housing spokesman, Eoin O Broin, said the latest stats show why the Government has to reinstate the evictions ban.
From October 1 to December 31 the RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) recorded 4,329 eviction notices received by their offices.
This was almost as high as the record number of 4,741 evictions notices received in the third quarter of 2022 and brought the total number of notices for the year to almost 12,000.
Wayne Stanley, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said: “These figures and the current state of the private rental market further call into question the decision of the government to lift the moratorium on no fault evictions.
“Measures brought in by Government to mitigate the impact of the lifting of the moratorium, such as a ramping up of the tenant-in-situ scheme, the tenant’s right to ‘first refusal’ and changes to HAP evidently require time to deliver results. In that context, pulling away the safety net of the moratorium with 7,348 notice of terminations looming over the next three months is difficult to justify.”
Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty said: "This level of NoTs (Notices of Terminations) indicates the extreme challenges of the housing crisis.
“Many of those losing their homes are those forced to turn to homeless services as they are unable to find new accommodation in the private rental sector.
“To compound matters, emergency accommodation is in short supply in many local authorities.
The Social Democrats’ Mr O’Callaghan said: “The RTB report states that 4,329 notices-to-quit were served to tenants between October and December of 2022.
“That’s in addition to the 4,741 notices-to-quit that were served between July and September of last year.
“This huge increase in the number of people facing into homelessness is unprecedented.
“In contrast, in Q2 of 2022, 1,600 notices to quit were issued to tenants.
“If the Government does not reverse its decision to lift the ban on no-fault evictions, we are facing a tsunami of evictions in the coming months - more than 9,000 - while homeless services are already operating beyond capacity.
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