A number of TDs have voiced their approval for the passing of the Upward Only Rent (Clauses and Reviews) Bill 2013 in the Seanad earlier this week.
Fianna Fáil's Darragh O'Brien praised the move, calling on the government to "see through the commitment in its party manifesto prior to the 2011 general election which said the party would pass legislation to give all tenants the right to have their commercial rents reviewed in 2011, irrespective of upward-only or other review clauses."
O'Brien quipped that the Bill passed through the Seanad with "the tacit assistance of the provisional Labour Party grouping of the three missing-in-action Senators."
Independent TD noted that the "advice communicated from the Attorney General [on the issue of UORR] is strange. It suggests that one form of property right - namely, rent - enjoys constitutional protection, while all other forms of income do not. All other forms of income have declined in this recession."
Fine Gael's Paul Coghlan also weighed in on the issue, pointing out that "the only flaw in Senator Quinn's Bill related to the wise counsel of the Attorney General, which the Government wisely took on board. That said, and let us not argue, there is nothing preventing landlords and tenants taking into account market conditions."
© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
