Landlords' dole to be cut

yutta

Over €500m is spent annually on rent allowance.

Does this mean that the artificial floor on rents will be removed in the upcoming budget?

Currently a floor of around €300 to €400 per month per room exists due to rent allowance.

Ray Burkes Pension

Unfortunately they'll be afraid to touch it as House prices are traditionally tied to rents. Any fall in rents will hit house prices and middle classes wont be happy.

caseyann

If they touch that with the amount of people stuck in renting there will be chaos.
Rent is on rise again so looks like going to cost state and the average person who cant afford it more again.
Forcing families and young people into tenement like flats.They say there is a law for landlords to uphold certain laws for their houses.I have seen situations were people are paying twelve hundred euro a month for houses with oil and no insulation windows not insulated properly and damp all over.And then people on rent allowance getting some of that paying rest out of their welfare money with no heating at all.Its a sad state of affairs and this country is not for the people.
Rent allowance is not the problem.
The law allowing landlords to have houses and have such rents so high in order to pay for their houses and have other houses is one of the reasons country is falling apart.
IMO

anymore

caseyann wrote: »

If they touch that with the amount of people stuck in renting there will be chaos.
Rent is on rise again so looks like going to cost state and the average person who cant afford it more again.
Forcing families and young people into tenement like flats.They say there is a law for landlords to uphold certain laws for their houses.I have seen situations were people are paying twelve hundred euro a month for houses with oil and no insulation windows not insulated properly and damp all over.And then people on rent allowance getting some of that paying rest out of their welfare money with no heating at all.Its a sad state of affairs and this country is not for the people.
Rent allowance is not the problem.
The law allowing landlords to have houses and have such rents so high in order to pay for their houses and have other houses is one of the reasons country is falling apart.
IMO

Well casey people have plenty of rental housees to choose from now so I cant see why anyone would be renting houses with no or poor heating. The fact is that the quality of rental houses has imporoved a great deal compared to what they were like 15 20 years ago. In the course of work i used to call to houses, apartments on a dailt basis and I have seen the huge improvement.

yutta

caseyann wrote: »

If they touch that with the amount of people stuck in renting there will be chaos.
Rent is on rise again so looks like going to cost state and the average person who cant afford it more again.
Forcing families and young people into tenement like flats.They say there is a law for landlords to uphold certain laws for their houses.I have seen situations were people are paying twelve hundred euro a month for houses with oil and no insulation windows not insulated properly and damp all over.And then people on rent allowance getting some of that paying rest out of their welfare money with no heating at all.Its a sad state of affairs and this country is not for the people.
Rent allowance is not the problem.
The law allowing landlords to have houses and have such rents so high in order to pay for their houses and have other houses is one of the reasons country is falling apart.
IMO

There's a glut of properties for rent on the market. The Government should be seeking at least a 20% reduction in the rent payable.

caseyann

anymore wrote: »

Well casey people have plenty of rental housees to choose from now so I cant see why anyone would be renting houses with no or poor heating. The fact is that the quality of rental houses has imporoved a great deal compared to what they were like 15 20 years ago. In the course of work i used to call to houses, apartments on a dailt basis and I have seen the huge improvement.

You dont work with the poorer element that i visit.
Nothing about choosing from.It is all on circumstances.
If someone is renting a house as a family off their own back with one income in alot of the cases now they get 20 euro if they are lucky for fuel.Which in some cases they can afford to feed them and their family and pay one bill but then another is not paid like heating.We are not talking about 15 20 years ago.

yutta wrote: »

There's a glut of properties for rent on the market. The Government should be seeking at least a 20% reduction in the rent payable.

They are saying 641 million is being paid out in RAS and Rent supplement for 2011.
Sean crowe had a few good idea's for what should be done.
One of which is releasing nama properties to local authorities and their tenants.
To much money is being pocketed into private landlords.,through all forms Ras rent and rent supplement.

charlemont

anymore wrote: »

Well casey people have plenty of rental housees to choose from now so I cant see why anyone would be renting houses with no or poor heating. The fact is that the quality of rental houses has imporoved a great deal compared to what they were like 15 20 years ago. In the course of work i used to call to houses, apartments on a dailt basis and I have seen the huge improvement.

No they don't, Not for single people anyway, Maybe outside the cities but the standard of flats/bedsits where I am are scandalous, I got very lucky with what I have and I'm young and fit so luckily I have not had to use any heaters so far this Winter. Most heating around here is by electric wall heaters, Now I'v seen flats that you seriously would never want your children to live in, Its amazing how the Community Welfare pass these kips for R.A. A guy I know reported a dangerous fire hazard in some bad flats to the Fire Officer and was told "Its not our problem". But Yes the RA limits should be cut but only if the rents are dropped too, Landlords have not felt what the rest of us have felt since the recession.

thebman

There are crap loads of 1 bedroom places on daft in Dublin CC at the moment.

If your looking for one bedroom you can also have the choice of house sharing in most situations.

The one thing Ireland can't be accused of is too little rental property TBH. It is very easy to say loads of it is bad quality but I've yet to see any evidence that a significant amount of the properties are not of good enough quality.

A few might not be but that doesn't cause a problem, you just don't rent those. There are loads of properties on daft for Dublin city centre and most of the rest of the country. Most are also of a reasonable standard, might not be dream houses but certainly you can live in them no bother. I'm renting myself and looking around at the moment, in a decent enough place but better properties are available for the same price as my current place now, ones with better energy ratings. Landlord has tried to do up this place to be cheaper to eat but the guy that surveyed it said it was a lost cause basically.

Loads of other places around for same or lower rent though with better insulation. Have viewed a few already but wasn't happy with other aspects of it as this is a decent enough place despite the heating cost and not moving until I find somewhere with everything this house has and a good energy rating.

yutta

Cutting rent allowance would be off the table if FF were in power. Then again, quite a few FG types would have their fingers in the property pie and wouldn't like to see rents dropping.

Godge

caseyann wrote: »

If they touch that with the amount of people stuck in renting there will be chaos.
Rent is on rise again so looks like going to cost state and the average person who cant afford it more again.
Forcing families and young people into tenement like flats.They say there is a law for landlords to uphold certain laws for their houses.I have seen situations were people are paying twelve hundred euro a month for houses with oil and no insulation windows not insulated properly and damp all over.And then people on rent allowance getting some of that paying rest out of their welfare money with no heating at all.Its a sad state of affairs and this country is not for the people.
Rent allowance is not the problem.
The law allowing landlords to have houses and have such rents so high in order to pay for their houses and have other houses is one of the reasons country is falling apart.
IMO

I find this very hard to believe or else the people are very stupid.

Look at this, not far from where I live

http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=1128090

or this

http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=1138425

or this

http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=1137828


or even this penthouse

http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=1137826


And don't give me the "people want to live where they grew up" bit. I am from south county Dublin and had to live where I could afford to live. If it is good enough for someone working hard in a job, it is good enough for someone on rent allowance.

Godge

charlemont wrote: »

No they don't, Not for single people anyway, Maybe outside the cities but the standard of flats/bedsits where I am are scandalous, I got very lucky with what I have and I'm young and fit so luckily I have not had to use any heaters so far this Winter. Most heating around here is by electric wall heaters, Now I'v seen flats that you seriously would never want your children to live in, Its amazing how the Community Welfare pass these kips for R.A. A guy I know reported a dangerous fire hazard in some bad flats to the Fire Officer and was told "Its not our problem". But Yes the RA limits should be cut but only if the rents are dropped too, Landlords have not felt what the rest of us have felt since the recession.

Can you provide some evidence with links to a property website? otherwise I could say that where I live you can get a four-bed mansion for €400 per month and nobody could disagree with me.

Molloys Clondalkin

Not every Landlord will accept rent allowance theres still a stigma that people on RA are ner do well's,
that and that some landlords dont declare their propertys.

If you look through daft a lot of propertys state that.

If your unemployed and getting RA you still have to put money from your dole into the rent (dont forget theres a limit on RA so you cant just get any five bedroom house etc ) It results in you having less of the dole to go round bills etc pile up and people suffer.
Thats the reality,
Meanwhile Nama has thousands of propertys lying vacant why cant we set up a five year rental lease if you dont want to live there after 5 years your on your own.

Molloys Clondalkin

Godge wrote: »

Can you provide some evidence with links to a property website? otherwise I could say that where I live you can get a four-bed mansion for €400 per month and nobody could disagree with me.

Why not have a look at that thread in after hours a few months ago where the state of the houses and flats to rent was highlighted

Plenty of toilets in kitchen examples with pictures etc.

Cuddlesworth

I got a detached three bed house in Killiney this year for 1200. Im sure that will drop next year. Rent allowance caps the lower end of the market. The upper end is dropping badly

Godge

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

Why not have a look at that thread in after hours a few months ago where the state of the houses and flats to rent was highlighted

Plenty of toilets in kitchen examples with pictures etc.

So After Hours is a better source of information than daft or myhome on housing available to rent?

Charlemont made a blanket statement saying there is nothing decent to rent where he lives but didn't provide anything to back it up. I just asked for some info from him.

laoch na mona

rent allowance helps the tenants
the landlord gets paid either way

polakdot

yutta wrote: »

Over €500m is spent annually on rent allowance.

Does this mean that the artificial floor on rents will be removed in the upcoming budget?

Currently a floor of around €300 to €400 per month per room exists due to rent allowance.

no ,what it means is ,people on social welfare get helped to pay rent to private landlords so they wont be homeless.
very simple really.
the same way ,businesses get most of the social welfare allowance given to unemployed people,because they spend most of their income,to keep the economy afloat.

hope that explains it.

OKeeffer

laoch na mona wrote: »

rent allowance helps the tenants
the landlord gets paid either way

The landlord won't "get paid either way". They will be forced to decrease the rent they charge to match the decrease in rent allowance, if there is one.

Jarren

or getting new tennants

polakdot

OKeeffer wrote: »

The landlord won't "get paid either way". They will be forced to decrease the rent they charge to match the decrease in rent allowance, if there is one.

you actually think landlords will reduce the rent if the rent allowance comes down??

lol

Slydice

polakdot wrote: »

you actually think landlords will reduce the rent if the rent allowance comes down??

lol

you actually think anyone other than people on the dole would be arsed renting places belonging to those landlords?

Jarren

It's actually very simple

Demand and Supply

polakdot

Slydice wrote: »

you actually think anyone other than people on the dole would be arsed renting places belonging to those landlords?

mmm...i live in a very nice place..and the landlord accepts rent allowance..rathgar actually..

what exactly is your issue here?

not even wrong

charlemont wrote: »

No they don't, Not for single people anyway

If you're single and on rent allowance then get a flat share. You're not supposed to be able to afford a place on your own.

polakdot

not even wrong wrote: »

If you're single and on rent allowance then get a flat share. You're not supposed to be able to afford a place on your own.

mmmm...ever heard of bedsits??? small flats??

a lot of people on here seem to under some severe delusions..

Slydice

polakdot wrote: »

mmmm...ever heard of bedsits??? small flats??

a lot of people on here seem to under some severe delusions..

bedsits must be some of those lovely places you mention?

polakdot

Slydice wrote: »

bedsits must be some of those lovely places you mention?

Are you ok?
Or are you in negative equity?
Or are you paying over the odds to rent some apartment?

or is mammy still doing the washing for you?

im baffled as to why you are on here?

krissovo

You might laugh but my old landlord refused to extend my rental period so he could get someone on rent allowance. He wanted someone who would be a almost guaranteed income for the next 5 or so years.

Icepick

jarecki1976 wrote: »

It's actually very simple

Demand and Supply

just swap minimum wage for rent allowance, etc.

Godge

polakdot wrote: »

mmmm...ever heard of bedsits??? small flats??

a lot of people on here seem to under some severe delusions..

I know people who work who cannot afford to rent on their own and have to share or rent a room.

Lucky the dole recipient who can afford his own place on rent allowance.

Lab_Mouse

polakdot wrote: »

im baffled as to why you are on here?

Back to you:rolleyes::rolleyes:

goat2

yutta wrote: »

Cutting rent allowance would be off the table if FF were in power. Then again, quite a few FG types would have their fingers in the property pie and wouldn't like to see rents dropping.

i do think rent being charged by some landlords is over the top, when i was finding a house for five students a few yrs ago, they were each charged sixty five euro per week, i think the proper way to go is, that landlord take a good deposit on property and charge far less than that that is being charged per week

caseyann

goat2 wrote: »

i do think rent being charged by some landlords is over the top, when i was finding a house for five students a few yrs ago, they were each charged sixty five euro per week, i think the proper way to go is, that landlord take a good deposit on property and charge far less than that that is being charged per week

Plus bills dont forget.


I read in paper,county council advertised 9 houses up for renting and 700 people applied for them.

Godge

caseyann wrote: »

Plus bills dont forget.


I read in paper,county council advertised 9 houses up for renting and 700 people applied for them.

Missed that, what paper? what county? Would be interested in checking out that story?

caseyann

Godge wrote: »

Missed that, what paper? what county? Would be interested in checking out that story?

South county Dublin. Tallaght News.7th November.

murphaph

polakdot wrote: »

you actually think landlords will reduce the rent if the rent allowance comes down??

lol

As a landlord who has reduced the rent in response to his tenants receiving reduced RS, I would say yes

Decent tenants will be looked after by their landlord if he/she can afford it. Decent tenants are worth their weight in gold to any landlord with half a brain.

goat2

i also rent out a small house two bedroomed, and reduced the rent a year ago, still keeping in place the expenses i have to endure, like insurance, bin charges, and i have just updated the central heating from back boiler to multi fuel stove and new radiators. new cooker, fridge, coal bunker and even gave them some firewood as i have a few of my own trees to make things a bit cheaper to run,
because when it become available which was six yrs ago, I have great time for the person in that house as they never ever cause me any trouble, he is worth his weight in gold, what a landlord is looking for is a person or people who, respect property, respect neighbours, pay their bills, and most of all stay long term, and in being long term, they make it easier on landlord when all these things are involved,
it is hard to find suitable tenants, as in my case they need a car, they are living in a small village a few miles from nearest town,
My attidude is, you get what you give.
also when i did reduce rent, the tenant did not ask me to do so, but that week all wages had been reduced due to this new levy that was put on them, and i knew he was also effected by it, i just want to hold on to a brilliant person and give them the respect they deserve,
and if the decide they want to leave next week, i will not question whether they should have their deposit back, they will get it without question, as i know that after six yrs being a good tenant, all i have to do is clean and paint cottage along with replacing flooring and electrical gadgets and fixing furniture, but not at the expense of tenant, the last two tenants i had in that place, still send me christmas cards, as they were also great,
when they left house, i handed them back their deposits without question, and also handed them a bit of galway crystal as a present on the day they were leaving

Godge

caseyann wrote: »

Plus bills dont forget.


I read in paper,county council advertised 9 houses up for renting and 700 people applied for them.

http://housing.southdublin.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=158&Itemid=200


Is this the scheme? Only those eligible could apply. If there were 700 eligible, why wouldn't they apply? It was only one aspect of SDCC's housing policy and there are many other ways for the 700 to get housed. I still don't understand your point.

Godge

murphaph wrote: »

As a landlord who has reduced the rent in response to his tenants receiving reduced RS, I would say yes

Decent tenants will be looked after by their landlord if he/she can afford it. Decent tenants are worth their weight in gold to any landlord with half a brain.

goat2 wrote: »

i also rent out a small house two bedroomed, and reduced the rent a year ago, still keeping in place the expenses i have to endure, like insurance, bin charges, and i have just updated the central heating from back boiler to multi fuel stove and new radiators. new cooker, fridge, coal bunker and even gave them some firewood as i have a few of my own trees to make things a bit cheaper to run,
because when it become available which was six yrs ago, I have great time for the person in that house as they never ever cause me any trouble, he is worth his weight in gold, what a landlord is looking for is a person or people who, respect property, respect neighbours, pay their bills, and most of all stay long term, and in being long term, they make it easier on landlord when all these things are involved,
it is hard to find suitable tenants, as in my case they need a car, they are living in a small village a few miles from nearest town,
My attidude is, you get what you give.
also when i did reduce rent, the tenant did not ask me to do so, but that week all wages had been reduced due to this new levy that was put on them, and i knew he was also effected by it, i just want to hold on to a brilliant person and give them the respect they deserve,
and if the decide they want to leave next week, i will not question whether they should have their deposit back, they will get it without question, as i know that after six yrs being a good tenant, all i have to do is clean and paint cottage along with replacing flooring and electrical gadgets and fixing furniture, but not at the expense of tenant, the last two tenants i had in that place, still send me christmas cards, as they were also great,
when they left house, i handed them back their deposits without question, and also handed them a bit of galway crystal as a present on the day they were leaving

Seems there are quite a few decent landlords out there prepared to reduce their rent. That convinces me that the government should go for it and cut rent allowance significantly. The only real losers will be the landlords who refuse to cut rent. There will be some inconvenience for tenants who have to move.

Squall19

yutta wrote: »

Cutting rent allowance would be off the table if FF were in power. Then again, quite a few FG types would have their fingers in the property pie and wouldn't like to see rents dropping.

Spot on.

They wont let themselves, family, friends be out of pocket.

Property prices here are meant to be high, for obvious reasons.

You can be sure powers that be will help the price rises again.

Nothing should be subsidized, it only ****s up the free market.

That's all green taxes, rent supplement, and all that **** do, is just **** up the market and distort it for personal gain for the already wealthy.

Squall19

Godge wrote: »

The only real losers will be the landlords who refuse to cut rent. There will be some inconvenience for tenants who have to move.

But they run the country!!

Property inflation was no accident.

Alot of them got very rich because of it.

How many people in goverment have second, third, fourth houses, property empires etc?

How many people connected to the them, family, friends, business partners, celeb friends are landlords, own a few properties, alot!!

Sadly vested interests will see rent supplement remains.

caseyann

murphaph wrote: »

As a landlord who has reduced the rent in response to his tenants receiving reduced RS, I would say yes

Decent tenants will be looked after by their landlord if he/she can afford it. Decent tenants are worth their weight in gold to any landlord with half a brain.

I would say you are only one and you can not speak for other landlords.
You may not be a money grabber but landlords have proved beyond a doubt they are.
If you believe for one minute that majority of landlords will lower their prices to meet the rent allowance amount if cut,I fear you have to much faith in man.

caseyann

Godge wrote: »

Seems there are quite a few decent landlords out there prepared to reduce their rent. That convinces me that the government should go for it and cut rent allowance significantly. The only real losers will be the landlords who refuse to cut rent. There will be some inconvenience for tenants who have to move.

What by 2 or 3 posts.
They can leave their rent high and opt for professionals and non Irish along with professionals sharing.

I dont have problem with the rent supplement being dropped if it indeed sparks a decrease in rents,but i fear it might not.

djpbarry

caseyann wrote: »

I would say you are only one and you can not speak for other landlords.

But you can?

caseyann wrote: »

You may not be a money grabber but landlords have proved beyond a doubt they are.

How? By

caseyann wrote: »

If you believe for one minute that majority of landlords will lower their prices to meet the rent allowance amount if cut,I fear you have to much faith in man.

Help me out here – who’s forcing tenants to pay rents they consider to be too high? There are plenty of properties available to rent in Ireland – if a landlord’s asking price is too high, then move on.

caseyann wrote: »

They can leave their rent high and opt for professionals and non Irish along with professionals sharing.

So explain how rents nationwide have dropped by about 25% from their peak?

Molloys Clondalkin

djpbarry wrote: »

There are plenty of properties available to rent in Ireland – if a landlord’s asking price is too high, then move on.
QUOTE]

Thats very easy to say but the reality is different
First you need the deposit to secure a new place then furniture etc if you have kids theres changing schools and leaving thier friends.

Single people have rooms to share in houses but to try and save a deposit when your on the dole and paying rent with RA (they dont pay it all dont forget that) is not easy.

Then trying to find a place that accepts RA (they dont all accept it). and a house thats suitable.
I suggested earlier to look at the thread in after hours and the rebuttal was "after hours is a better source of information than daft"
In this case the thread was filled with places from sites like daft not just stories of them but links to the pictures and asking prices.
It has all the ****holes in one place so to speak.

goat2

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

djpbarry wrote: »

There are plenty of properties available to rent in Ireland – if a landlord’s asking price is too high, then move on.
QUOTE]

Thats very easy to say but the reality is different
First you need the deposit to secure a new place then furniture etc if you have kids theres changing schools and leaving thier friends.

Single people have rooms to share in houses but to try and save a deposit when your on the dole and paying rent with RA (they dont pay it all dont forget that) is not easy.

Then trying to find a place that accepts RA (they dont all accept it). and a house thats suitable.
I suggested earlier to look at the thread in after hours and the rebuttal was "after hours is a better source of information than daft"
In this case the thread was filled with places from sites like daft not just stories of them but links to the pictures and asking prices.
It has all the ****holes in one place so to speak.

i see your reality, but people should always have a backup and a few bob aside for deposits, i always hand back the deposit so that they can hand it on to the next person,
i am also going to say,
there are terrible tenants,
and there are terrible unscruplious landlords, but i cannot go into that, when i did get a bad tenant, that is a person who wreck the place and not pay rent, i get them out as soon as possible, the last bad tenants i had, they stayed 3 months, and to get the place back to how it was handed to them, i spent two and a half thousand, i handed them back their deposit with out question as soon as possible, i just wanted to see the back of them asap,
i learned my lesson then and there, i look for references, make phonecalls to the last few places they stayed,

goat2

caseyann wrote: »

I would say you are only one and you can not speak for other landlords.
You may not be a money grabber but landlords have proved beyond a doubt they are.
If you believe for one minute that majority of landlords will lower their prices to meet the rent allowance amount if cut,I fear you have to much faith in man.

they will have no choice, if people did not hand over the big rents being asked, then these people would bring down the rents,
here where i live, i know a person who has twenty houses, full at all times, yet he has management running it for him, he drives an eighty thousand euro jeep, and as far as i am concerned he has to pay wages to the ones he has employed and live the life of reiley, on the backs of those who are foolish enough to hand over their hard earned cash with little left over for themselves,
that kind of ****e has to stop,

djpbarry

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

First you need the deposit to secure a new place then furniture etc if you have kids theres changing schools and leaving thier friends.

In most cases, you’ll be refunded a deposit at the end of your tenancy, which can be put towards a new property if necessary. As for changing schools, it’s pretty likely (especially at the present time) that other properties will be available in the same area.

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

I suggested earlier to look at the thread in after hours and the rebuttal was "after hours is a better source of information than daft"
In this case the thread was filled with places from sites like daft not just stories of them but links to the pictures and asking prices.

I don’t think anyone is going to deny that there are some pretty dodgy places out there for rent. But the point is that the quality of accommodation can vary quite widely, so it pays to shop around.

Molloys Clondalkin

I agree with that and Goat I wholly agree about bad tennants there are some savages out there who have no respect at all for things not thiers.

But were in a catch 22 here if people dont pay the rent that is asked then they have to stay where they are, remember you have to sign a lease tying you into the property for a year etc, so while everyone is waiting that year there stuck paying the same rent, Landlord sees this and keeps rent the same.

The only thing I can see is that the government needs to cap the rents in the private rental market, and thats unreasonable too because its unfair to have a palace at the same price as a dump.

But cutting RA is not the way to force the prices down all thats going to do is drive people out of thier homes and bedsits in search of cheaper accomodation. and when Landlords see this the price will be kept high supply and demand with no mortgages being given out people have two choices rent or leave, and trying to leave when your on the dole and barely keeping food on the table just isnt an option.

Molloys Clondalkin

And sure you will be refunded the deposit when you hand the keys back but you need the deposit and one months rent up front just to get the keys of a new place, Show me a landlord that will let you move in with your stuff and wait for the deposit to be refunded from your old place.

Also sure its wise to have a few bob set aside for emergencies etc.
But when your on the dole every biill and trip to the shops is an emergency christmas birthdays etc all eat into your savings.

Its easy for someone whos working to say these things but when your only income is 188 a week with the RA paying a portion of your rent the only future moving is to a cardboard box in a laneway.
then to see ten jobs you could be working at going to a intern where you could have earned a basic wage is just the icing on the cake for some people.

djpbarry

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

But were in a catch 22 here if people dont pay the rent that is asked then they have to stay where they are, remember you have to sign a lease tying you into the property for a year etc, so while everyone is waiting that year there stuck paying the same rent, Landlord sees this and keeps rent the same.

I don’t really understand what you’re getting at here? If the rent is too high, then don’t sign the lease.

Molloys Clondalkin wrote: »

But cutting RA is not the way to force the prices down all thats going to do is drive people out of thier homes and bedsits in search of cheaper accomodation. and when Landlords see this the price will be kept high...

If it’s obvious that a landlord is seeking too high a price for a property and can’t find tenants as a result, then why would they not lower the rent? How is it in their interest to keep the place empty?