Two in five former landlords say tax breaks would have kept them in the market – RTB survey

Around 44pc of landlords who sold their properties said they would have considered not selling up if they had to pay “less tax”.

The survey asked 100 landlords who had recently sold their properties why they decided to sell up.

Most said “nothing” would have stopped them from selling as they wanted to do so for “personal reasons”.

One in five said they would have considered keeping their properties if renting was “more profitable” and a third said they would not have sold if there was less regulation.

“[The research] shows that 49pc of the former landlords that sold their properties indicated that nothing could have prevented them from leaving the sector as they wanted to sell for personal reasons,” the RTB said in a document for the Dáil’s Housing Committee.

The most common reason for eviction notices from autumn 2019 to spring of last year was because “the landlord intends to sell the property”.

The RTB said this has been “consistently the most common reason each quarter” since autumn 2019.

It comes as the real figure of active tenancies will not be known until the middle of this year.

Even though landlords are obliged to keep the register of tenancies up to date, the RTB said there is “low compliance” with landlords failing to remove properties once lease agreements had ended.

However, landlords now have to register their properties every year and those which are not registered are automatically removed from the register. This aims to give the RTB the most relevant and up-to-date information on how long properties are rented for.

“Inactive tenancies have remained active on the register and this issue will not be fully resolved until the middle of 2023 once the first cycle of annual registration completes,” it said.

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said the survey shows the “importance” of creating additional housing supply. “With rising house prices, many landlords who were unable to sell up when they had negative equity are now exiting,” he said.