In Northern Ireland, a lack of investment in social and affordable housing has led to increased reliance on the private rented sector (PRS). For many households that, in previous years, might have accessed social housing or achieved homeownership, these options have become increasingly out of reach.
As access to the tenures best suited to long-term, sustainable housing has dwindled, many have had to fall back onto the PRS. The sector has traditionally been home to short-term tenants, intended as a stepping stone between moving out of the family home and entering home ownership.
The PRS has grown in size and now represents a 17% share of the housing stock, marginally exceeding that of the social sector. This means that private landlords now have responsibility for housing a similar number of households as the State. This is a stark change from as recently as 1991, when social housing accounted for 31% of the market share and the PRS for 7%. The PRS is not carrying out the same functions as it once did.
Although the private rented sector (PRS) and social housing house a broadly similar number of households, and tenants across both tenures face comparable risks of poverty, there remains a marked disparity in the policy framework and legislative protections afforded to each. The rights, safeguards and regulatory structures that underpin social housing are, in many cases, absent from the private rented sector, resulting in weaker protections for private tenants.
The shift to an overreliance on the PRS has been problematic for several reasons. Firstly, supply has not kept pace with demand, leading to rapid, unprecedented rent price inflation, severely impacting the affordability of low-income renters and, as recent research suggests, middle-income renters. Secondly, the pace of this shift has meant that the legislation and regulation governing private tenancies have not kept pace with demand and the associated emerging challenges.
This paper, inspired by the experiences of private renters displayed by the Renters' Voice Legislative Theatre project, identifies the current shortcomings in private tenant rights and proposes a number of solutions for reform. It is our belief that the adoption of these proposals will lead to a fair, secure, and sustainable private rented sector which protects the tenants who call it home.