There’s nothing that harms me but little that will help me either

LANDLORD Eugene McCann, 65, has been in business for 45 years. He has seven properties – flats, apartments and three houses in the capital as well as outside it – with 20 tenants. ‘If the business pays, it’s very little. Where’s the sky- high rents?’ he said. ‘According to all the reports, rents only went up by between 7 per cent and 9 per cent this year. I don’t know how anyone can classify that as being extravagant, bearing in mind that in 2008 rents dropped 30 per cent when the crash happened. ‘As far as I’m concerned there is a housing shortage both for selling and letting and the only people providing accommodation at the moment are the private landlords.

‘Everybody is entitled to the market rent for their product.

‘When the farmers weren’t obtaining fair prices for their land rent and their animals the minister stepped in. Land is letting for €400 an acre. There is no restriction on office accommodation, no penalties being imposed, the landlords have been treated terribly by all the Governments.’

Before the Budget, he said he would ‘like to see certainty of payment, the cap removed. And would like to see out-of-pocket expenses allowed as a business expense such as the local property tax, PRSI on rent, the social service charge.

‘Anybody that lets any type of property can claim business expenses against it but the landlords can’t.

‘Instead of penalising landlords, if there were a number of incentives introduced, private enterprise would take up the slack. The first opportunity I get, I will be off-loading property and start moving out of the business, certainly. It’s a shame, because it’s not viable any more.

‘The PRTB needs reform. It takes two years to get a tenant out.’

He also hoped for ‘more support for landlords, we’re the only ones providing any type of accommodation. Strictly speaking, it’s not the function of private landlords to provide social housing. That’s the responsibility of the Government and local authorities.

‘I would like to see more tax incentives and less red tape.’

When the Budget was finally announced, Mr McCann said: ‘There didn’t seem to be much that will affect me. There was nothing to encourage property owners to increase their volume of units to let, which would have been a help in view of the shortage of accommodation at the moment.

‘It didn’t seem to affect the property owners and landlords at all, there was no benefit there to them.

‘I’m not disappointed but I wouldn’t be jumping for joy. There’s nothing that will harm me, but nothing that will help me. I’m pretty neutral about it.’