Latest news with #tenancy
Independent Singapore
10 hours ago
- Independent Singapore
‘Felt like jail': Tenant exposes landlord's wild rules and CCTV outside toilet
SINGAPORE: A man went on record earlier this week to shine a spotlight on a stringent tenancy agreement that caused him and his girlfriend to move out in just one month. Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Ye Guohua said that he wanted to warn others to prevent them from making the same mistake he had. Mr Ye wrote that although he and his girlfriend had only moved in in May, they already transferred from the room they rented in Bedok by June 4, as they were no longer willing to put up with the overly strict contract from their landlord. The 48-year-old mobile phone shop worker said he found a room advertised at Block 529 Bedok North Street 3 on Facebook. The rental price was listed as $1,050. Finding this to be reasonable, he and his girlfriend rented the room. It did not take long, however, until their new digs started feeling like a nightmare. Telling the Chinese-language daily that he had not realised the landlord would be so strict, he added, 'It felt like I was in prison.' Mr Ye admitted he and his girlfriend had failed to pay close attention to the tenancy agreement which had at least 20 rules. The property agent did not draw attention to it or warn them about it either. According to the landlord's rules, Mr Ye and his girlfriend, along with the other tenants, needed to clear the floor of the toilet of every single strand of hair after they used it. They were also not allowed to leave their soap or shampoo in the bathroom. Also, tenants were only allowed to use the washing machine on Fridays. While the landlord may have had their reasons for the rules above, some seemed rather bizarre, including tenants not being allowed to use their mobile phones or talk loudly in the living room. They were also not to switch on the living room light, and Mr Ye had to resort to buying a flashlight so he could get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. When the landlord felt that the household rules were being disobeyed, they would text the tenants to scold them at 3 or 4 am. The hardest thing for Mr Ye was that there were three CCTV cameras within the flat, with one directly outside the toilet. 'We were being monitored all the time,' he told Shin Min Daily News. Fed up, the couple left. Unfortunately, they were allegedly unable to get back their full deposit, receiving only half (S$500) because the landlord claimed they allowed one of the movers to use the bathroom on the day they moved out. The landlord said this was in breach of their tenancy agreement. A message allegedly from the landlord that Mr Ye showed the Chinese-language daily reads, 'The house toilet is not a public toilet, and breaking the TA is supposed to deduct the full deposit.' /TISG Read also: 'I know she is the landlord but…' – Tenant thinks landlady enters her room without permission
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Landlords could be forced to forgo rent for a year under Labour reforms
Landlords could be forced to forgo rent for up to a year under Labour's rental reforms, experts have warned. A provision in Angela Rayner's Renters' Rights Bill, which is just one parliamentary vote away from becoming law, will stop landlords who put their homes on the market from relisting properties as rentals for up to a year if they fail to sell. With as many as a third of house sales falling through, it could leave thousands of potential rental properties locked out of the market. So-called 'Section 21' notices – also known as no-fault evictions – will be banned, and all tenancies will be on a rolling basis with no fixed end date. The Bill will stipulate that landlords can only repossess properties in four circumstances: if they're looking to sell, if they're looking to move in, or if there is redevelopment or if the property is seized by a mortgage lender. Other grounds include if tenants fail to pay the rent on time, although landlords will have to wait longer to evict for this reason. Chris Norris, chief policy officer for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), said: 'Whilst we understand the Government wants to prevent abuse of the new tenancy systems, the country cannot afford to have homes standing empty for months on end. 'Around a third of property sales fall through before completion, mostly as a result of problems faced by the buyer. 'Given the scale of the housing crisis, it cannot be right that homes will be left empty for many months even when landlords are not to blame when a house sale fails to progress.' Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said that the new rules will mean that 'landlords must provide at least four months' notice to a tenant should they need or wish to sell their property. In addition, there will also be an initial 12 months 'protected interval' at the start of any tenancy where a landlord is prevented from evicting a tenant for the purpose of selling. Further to this, should a landlord choose to sell the property in question, they will be restricted from re-letting that property for a period of 12 months after evicting the tenant, should the property not sell'. Mr Emerson added: 'This may in some circumstance cause a degree of property vacancy, in an already pressurised situation where supply is greatly required.' Many of the reforms included in the Bill were first mooted by Michael Gove, the former Conservative housing secretary. But the original legislation said landlords would have to wait three months to relist a property that had been put on the market, rather than a year. Landlords have repeatedly warned that the more stringent rules will push them out of the market, eat into margins and make letting out properties unprofitable. In March, the number of UK properties available for rent hit an all-time low of just 284,000 – 23pc lower than during the pandemic, when the market dried up. Tax credits on mortgage interest for landlords were gradually slashed between 2017 and 2020, down from 40pc for higher-rate taxpayers to a flat rate of 20pc. Interest rates leapt, with buy-to-let mortgages at the sharper end of the increases – squeezing landlord profits even as rents rose. In Rachel Reeves's maiden Budget, an extra 5pc stamp duty surcharge was introduced on additional property purchases. Housing charities said that the delay of a year was necessary in order to stop the backdoor return of 'no-fault' evictions. Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: 'It's right the Government will outlaw arbitrary Section 21 evictions through the Renters' Rights Bill. This change can't come soon enough. 'If landlords are concerned about a property sitting vacant, they are free to sell with sitting tenants.' A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said: 'Our landmark Renters' Rights Bill will bring long overdue fairness to the market by making sure it is unprofitable for landlords to evict a tenant and deprive them of their home, just so they can rent to new tenants at a higher price.'
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Rent pressure zone extension signed into law
Rent pressure zones have been extended nationwide following the signing of emergency legislation into law by President Michael D Higgins. The system, which caps rent increases at the rate of inflation or 2 per cent, whichever is lower, have also been extended until the end of February after originally being due to expire at the end of the year. Advertisement If no action had been taken, there would have left a two-month gap before the Government's proposed changes to the rental sector are due to take effect in March. The measures were rushed through the Dáil and the Seanad this week before being signed into law by Mr Higgins on Thursday evening. The Government is being pressured again over the housing crisis after announcing a swathe of new rent and housing measures. This includes the introduction of rent caps nationwide of 2 per cent or to inflation, whichever is lower. Advertisement This will apply to around a fifth of tenancies not already covered, but has been criticised for allowing rents to 'reset' to the market rate when renters voluntarily leave a tenancy. New six-year minimum tenancies on offer from March next year have been criticised for allowing landlords to 'reset' rents every six years. Earlier, Minister for Housing James Browne said the target to build 41,000 new homes this year was 'not realistic'. Mr Browne has admitted previously that meeting the 2025 target would be 'extremely challenging' and all predictions are trending around 34,000. Advertisement Speaking on Newstalk on Thursday, he said he is committed to enacting a 'step change' in the housing department and will clear 'the dead wood out of the way so that homes can get delivered'. 'I think the challenge we have this year is we're coming off a much lower base from last year than was expected,' he said of the housing targets. 'We had hoped for much higher figures last year. 'I think, looking at all of the different predictions, which are fairly consistent, I think 41,000 is not realistic for this year. Advertisement 'We will wait to see how the year works out. I don't particularly like getting into predictions. 'My position as minister is to maximise supply, maximise the delivery of new homes and, irrespective of what the housing numbers will be this year, I'm making a step change so we can get that housing supply up, because we need to get from 30,000 onto 50,000, on to 60,000 houses. '40,000 houses is nowhere near enough.' The last Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition built more than 130,000 homes between 2020 and 2024, while the current coalition has set a target of in excess of 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030. Advertisement The target for this year is 41,000 new builds, despite the fact the Government missed its target of 33,450 last year and also missed its new-build social housing target by 1,429 last year. The Central Bank has also projected the Government will miss its own housing targets by a wide margin for the next three years – and on Thursday revised its prediction down further, predicting 32,500 newbuilds by the end of 2025. Ireland Rent pressure zones: What are they and what change... Read More The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael Government, supported by several independents, has insisted boosting supply is the best way to encourage affordability while opposition parties argue more state-owned homes and regulation is needed. 'We'd gotten to a point with housing where we had seen a very significant increase in supply over the last number of years, and then it's plateaued,' Tanaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said. 'The job of this government, and the job we're working on day in day out, is to get that momentum back.'
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
‘You mislead people, you burn' – housing minister defends rent controls
The housing minister has accused the Opposition of whipping up 'false anger' over his housing proposals during a Dáil debate on extending rent controls nationwide. While warning opposition politicians of the dangers of misleading the public, James Browne drew comparisons with the far-right, populism and of a 'Faustian pact'. Advertisement Mr Browne also said: 'Because you mislead people, you burn.' The Government is being pressured again over its approach to solving Ireland's housing crisis, after announcing a swathe of new rent and housing measures. This includes the introduction of rent caps nationwide of 2 per cent or to inflation, whichever is lower. This will apply to around a fifth of tenancies not already covered and has been welcomed, but other measures have been criticised as a pathway to even higher rents. Advertisement Six-year minimum tenancies on offer from March next year have been criticised for allowing landlords to 'reset' rents to market value every six years or when tenants voluntarily leave a rental property. There have also been criticisms of rents in new developments being capped only by inflation, in order to attract investors in an attempt to boost the supply of apartments. The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael government, supported by several independents, has insisted that boosting supply is the best way to encourage affordability, while opposition parties argue more state-owned homes and regulation is needed. While debating the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025, which will introduce nationwide rent caps this summer, the government and opposition representatives criticised one another over their housing stances. Advertisement Fianna Fáil's Catherine Ardagh accused Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne of a 'sanctimonious rant'. 'It's very difficult to listen to my friend's sanctimonious rant in relation to this,' the Dublin South Central TD said. 'I'm sure you are familiar, I think you are a lecturer in economics. We know from Junior Cert economics when you increase supply in the market, prices stabilise if not come down. 'It's economics 101.' Advertisement Fianna Fáil's Catherine Ardagh (Niall Carson/PA) She said the Bill would ensure 'fairness, certainty and protection' for renters across the country. Independent Galway West TD Catherine Connolly said she was inspired to speak during the legislative debate to respond to Ms Ardagh's comments. 'I can't think of anything more inappropriate from a TD (who is) part of the government that is standing over a housing crisis. 'The only sanctimonious (rant) that I've ever heard in this chamber has been from successive governments, as a tool and a weapon to obfuscate, to avoid, to confuse as a way to not analyse the problem.' Advertisement She criticised the 'chaotic, disorderly fashion' that the draft rent control laws were introduced to the Dail without pre-legislative scrutiny. 'We keep adding the pieces of the jigsaw with no picture – expect the picture of 'the market will provide'.' Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman said the progression of the Bill was 'reckless' and said it was inevitable that problems would later come to light. 'I understand sometimes you have to work and move legislation rapidly, I've had to do it myself,' the former minister said. 'But this isn't rapid, this is reckless. 'I have no doubt that mistakes will come to light, in the debate here or in the debate in the Seanad, but because there isn't sufficient time to actually go through it in detail, to bring in the committee amendments, we will be bringing forward legislative amendments in the autumn term, I have no doubt about that.' People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the government believed in 'the magic of the market' and that by increasing rents now, they would come down in the long term. 'The government won't own its own proposals. They tell us that what you're doing is going to increase investment in the rental sector and that ultimately will bring rents down. 'But you refuse to say the bit in the middle, in terms of why is this going to increase investment in the rental sector, which is the plan is to raise rents.' Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín accused the government of an 'omni-shambles' in relation to rent controls and 'confusion' and 'chaos' over its latest housing measures. 'It really feels that this is amateur hour in relation to the government's approach.' Mr Browne hit back, accusing the opposition of a 'Faustian pact' and of whipping up 'false anger'. He said personal comments had been made in the Dáil but no solutions offered, and accused Sinn Féin of 'quietly shelving' their manifesto plan for 'a home you'll never own'. He also claimed the opposition had 'worryingly' misled the public about the timing of plans to introduce rent controls nationwide. He said a Bill cannot go on the Order Paper until it has government approval, which it secured last Tuesday. 'Yet here we have Sinn Féin and Labour and the Social Democrats, all who know the procedures, deliberately putting it out there that because it wasn't on the order paper it wasn't going to happen, and that suddenly there was some sort of fast change. 'That's the kind of politics we see from the far-right, and we see that introduced here now.' He said that it was dangerous to 'whip up a false anger' and said it was 'pure populism'. 'You were deliberately misrepresenting the procedures to, again, whip up a false narrative. It is deeply dishonest. 'It's a kind of a Faustian pact, we've seen Labour do that to get into government before, and you get in a Faustian pact to whip up anger to try and get into government … if you get into government on the back of that kind of whipping up anger, you see what happened to Labour the last time and that's what happens. 'Because you mislead people, you burn,' he said. It was agreed in the Dáil on Wednesday that the Bill would move to committee and final stages.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Three housing proposals, including RPZ extension, to go to Cabinet
Three housing proposals, including draft laws to extend rent controls nationwide, are to go to Cabinet on Tuesday. The Government had flagged that emergency legislation would be brought forward this week to quickly introduce rent caps to a fifth of tenancies not already covered. Advertisement It is expected that the rent controls will be extended to around a dozen counties where they are not already in place by the summer. Taoiseach Micheál Martin (left) and Paul Reid, then-CEO of the HSE, in 2021 (Brian Lawless/PA) Two other measures will also be brought to Cabinet by Housing Minister James Browne. Former HSE chief executive Paul Reid is to be named as chairman of An Coimisiun Pleanala, which will replace An Bord Pleanala, in a memo to establish the body that is to be brought to Cabinet. It is understood that the overhaul of the State's planning authority aims to provide more certain timelines for planning decisions as well as a 'cultural reset'. Advertisement The third measure will see Mr Browne ask Cabinet to agree to expand the role of the Land Development Agency to enable it to secure additional housing supply. This will enable it to activate urban brownfield sites and allow for better land transfer powers when it comes to underused State lands, it is understood. The housing and planning measures come a week after the Government announced a swathe of rent and tenancy reforms. Mr Browne, who admitted that rents in Ireland are 'way too high', said the measures would give renters 'greater certainty' and would attract new investment in rental accommodation. Advertisement They included the extension nationwide of the rent pressure zone (RPZ) system – areas of high demand where rent increases are capped at inflation or 2%, whichever is lower. Rent increases in new developments will be capped only by inflation in an attempt to boost Ireland's apartment supply, Mr Browne said. Other rental reforms will kick in from March 1 2026: the offer of six-year-minimum rolling tenancies and a ban on no-fault evictions for large landlords, defined as having four or more tenancies. The opposition has criticised the proposals as 'a recipe for rocketing rents', particularly a measure that sees rents 'reset' to the market rate when a tenant voluntarily leaves a six-year-minimum tenancy. Advertisement A joint-opposition motion on housing and homelessness, which will be voted on on Tuesday, calls for the introduction of a no-fault eviction ban and greater use of compulsory purchase orders to 'bring empty homes back into use'. The motion is being proposed by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, the Green Party and Independents. A Raise the Roof protest will be held outside Leinster House to coincide with the opposition motion.
