According to the Residential Tenancy Board, about 4,500 rental property vacancy notices were served to tenants at the end of last year.
Under the law enacted last July, landlords must send a copy of the notice of termination (NOT) to the RTB on the same day it is sent to the tenant.
The data released today by RTB shows the number of NOTs notified in the fourth quarter of 2022, between October and December, reports RTE.
Of the 4,329 notes, 43% were in Dublin, with Cork accounting for about 11%.
The main reason for landlords giving eviction notices was their intention to sell the rental property, which was 58%.
The second main reason given (16.38%) was the need to transfer property to a family member.
In 16.10% of notices, violations of tenant obligations were reported, reports RTE.
The RTB says the number of notices in the fourth quarter does not equate to the number of properties landlords want to vacate or the number of tenants needing to find new homes.
This is because one notice may apply to multiple tenants in a lease or different notices may apply to tenants in the same property.
Sinn Féin Housing spokesman Eoin O’Brien called for the “immediate reinstatement of the ban on no-fault evictions” in the wake of the release of the RTB figures.
He said in a statement that “3,329 of the Q4 notices will fall due in April, May and June of this year” and while “a small number of people will secure alternative private rental accommodation, most will not,” reports RTE.
Mr O’Brien also said statistics show a total of 11,868 eviction notices were issued in 2022.
Labor leader Ivana Bacic said the figures “highlight the scale of the problem facing renters”, reports RTE.
Sian O’Callaghan, the Social Democrats’ spokesman on housing, said the figures showed “a tsunami of evictions in the coming months… while homeless services are already operating beyond capacity”, reports RTE.
Meanwhile the executive director of the Simon Community of Ireland described the figures as “very concerning”.
“Of particular concern is the high number of Landlords reporting that they are selling up, with those homes most likely leaving the private rental system,” Wayne Stanley said, reports RTE.
Pat DeWitt, CEO of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, said the RTB figures and the situation in the rental market were “not all doom and gloom”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, he said: “It’s like moving the deck chairs. They’re being moved around about, so a lot of those properties are going to be owned by somebody who is going to come from rental. And those rentals, they are going to be for somebody else.”
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