The national rent freeze and ban on evictions will only apply to tenants who have been impacted by COVID-19, under new legislation.

The new legislation is being brought forward replace the emergency COVID-19 tenant protections before they expire next Monday.

The new laws will protect anyone who has lost their job or seen their wages cut as a result of the outbreak; however, the "normal processes" will apply to everyone else.

Speaking to On the Record with Gavan Reilly this afternoon, the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said the blanket protections were “simply were not sustainable.”

He said the new legislation will, “focus very, very particularly on those who are at risk.”

“So, people who have either lost their jobs or had their wages cut because of COVID – people in recent of the PUP payment or the wage support scheme, or HAP or indeed the emergency rent allowance.

“They will be able to self-declare under this bill and they will get effective protections up to January next year. In all other instances the normal process will apply.”

Unconstitutional

He said there were concerns the emergency laws were unconstitutional and open to legal challenge.

“Obviously it was discussed at Cabinet that a lot of work had to be done with the Attorney General’s office,” he said.

“Really, I need to make sure that the most vulnerable people during this pandemic are actually protected, balancing that with the rights of property owners too.

“I am pretty happy that this bill will achieve that.”

He said the new legislation will also hand the Residential Tenancies Board increased powers to intervene in rent arrears cases and adjudicate over evictions.

Meanwhile, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) will be empowered to assist tenants with rent arrears.

Tenants seeking protection from evictions or rent increases from Monday week will have to register their status as impacted by COVID with the RTB.

"Certainty"

Minister O’Brien said the legislation will offer certainty to the most vulnerable.

“There are many people, thankfully, whose jobs have not been affected, their income had not been affected,” he said. “That was going to be one of the issues legally, the blanket nature of the protections.

“This is much more robust. It will give a lot of certainty for people for the next six months. Some in the opposition were calling for a three-month extension, this does a lot more than that.”

You can listen back to the full interview here: