Landlords urged to join 'win-win' rent scheme
Cork City Council is encouraging property owners and letting agents to join their Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), a support system that aims to benefit both landlords and tenants.
As demand for housing in the city grows, the council is appealing to both new and existing landlords to participate in the scheme, describing it as a valuable contribution to meeting local housing needs.
Established in 2004, the RAS ultimately aims to bring about longer-term arrangements between both parties, with the goal of removing the unpredictability and uncertainty of these relationships.
For landlords, the scheme sees the city council becoming more involved in the financial aspect, facilitating payments with the goal of making rental income more consistent and reliable.
The council’s involvement would guarantee rent for the duration of the contract and remove the need for collection. It would also grant the ability to claim up to 100% relief on their mortgage interest as an expense against rental income.
Additionally, the council would keep up these payments during vacancy periods, while managing tenant placement, meaning there would be no need for the owner to advertise the property.
For tenants, the RAS offers similar stability, via long-term rental agreements. Contracts like this in turn remove a lot of the unpredictability that comes with living in rented accommodation.
According to a statement by Cork City Council, these long-term agreements will give the families and individuals in the accommodation the ability to establish themselves within their communities.
Acting Director of Housing for Cork City Council, Martina Broderick said that the RAS presents a “win-win situation for both landlords and tenants.”
“The scheme continues to play a vital role in our housing system,” she said. “We would strongly encourage any landlord with a property available to contact Cork City Council’s RAS Section to find out more.”
According to figures from the council, this year the scheme has prevented 42 households from entering homelessness.
Reaction
A statement from the Cork branch of the Community Action Tenant’s Union (CATU) described it as an improvement on the Housing Assistance Payment, but also criticised it as an emergency measure.
They highlighted the need for the council to prioritising “building, buying and CPO-ing homes for the long term”.
“CATU firmly believes that in order to truly address the housing crisis in Ireland, the priority should be building public homes on public land,” they said. In the 22 years since it was first introduced, thousands of households have used the RAS, across all of the local authorities in Ireland. Roughly 700 homes in the city alone are currently availing of the scheme today. Landlords and tenants interested in availing of the scheme can apply by emailing ras@corkcity.ieor by calling 021-4924000.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.