A prominent estate agent in Clare is criticising the decision not to increase housing assistance payment for people living in rural areas under new measures aimed at rent reform.
The Governments 'New Deal For Tenants' allows for increases in the HAP payment in major urban centres, but there won't be any increase for tenants in Clare, Limerick or North Tipperary.
Among the measures announced under the 'New Deal for Tenants' yesterday are two year rent freezes for tenants and tax incentives for landlords who take social welfare recipients.
It'll also be harder to force tenants to leave when property owners want to sell or allow family members to use the premises – in future, landlords will have to supply a 'statutory declaration' and could be fined if caught out in a lie.
But while the plan allows for increases in the Housing Assistance Payments in major urban centres, there won't be any increase for tenants in the Mid-West.
Housing organisation Midwest Simon has given a guarded welcome to the plan but it says it's puzzled as to why the region has lost out.
Manager Jacqui Bonfield says excluding tenants in Clare from increases in HAP Payments won't solve the problem of homelessness.
Newmarket on Fergus Estate Agent Patricia Mc Carthy has described the decision not to raise the limit on HAP payments in Clare as unfair.
She insists the payment doesn't cover the market cost of any three-bedroom house in Ennis or Shannon but that a twenty per cent increase, such as that in urban areas, would have allow room for negotiation with landlords.
Patricia says those in need of housing across the country should have been treated the same.
