Video of the recent illegal eviction in Waterford

7 comments

1. Makes me want to invest in some gasoline.

2. If the gards have indeed got this wrong, my question is: why are they so shit?

3. Most people agree that we need to build more homes, but we as a country need to focus more on strengthening rights for tenants.

   I’m temporarily based in Edinburgh and the Scottish Government provides much stronger protections for tenants compared to the Irish Government – some examples which Ireland could easily adopt:

   •Landlord & Rental Property Register – all landlords must register themselves (address, full name, contact details, unique ID) and each property, so that there is accountability. This is something completely lacking in Ireland.

   •Deposits must be held by independent non-profits set up by the government – Safety Deposit Scotland – and any landlord attempt to take some or all of deposit must be proven and granted by this organisation.

   •Fixed-term leases are illegal – tenants may, with 30 days notice, leave at any stage. This gives them bargaining power if the landlord is refusing to fix something or doing some other dodgy landlord shite – while in Ireland, tenants are locked into 12/24 month contracts.

   •Right to decorate and pets – tenants will soon have the right to decorate (posters etc, not major works) and to own pets in rental homes, in order to help provide more security and feeling of homeliness.

   •Eviction Ban – landlords may not evict anyone unless they are moving in themselves (which tbh has been used as a loophole to illegally evict people so that the rent can be raised)

   •Rent Controls – Scotland had a rent freeze for the past year plus, which was replaced with a national 3% rent increase cap. As these rent controls are linked to tenancies (like any rent controls in Ireland), landlords are incentivised to find any reason to evict tenants so that they can increase the rent by hundreds. To solve this, Scotland is soon bringing in proper rent controls which set max rental prices for specific properties based on property value, location, access etc.

   These are just some of the examples of Scotland’s extra protections, but I’m sure others have examples of better protections for tenants in other countries – I’d love to learn of more examples so feel free to add any under this comment!

   And it’s important to highlight that many of these protections were only implemented because of the strength and success of tenants unions in Scotland like Living Rent.

   As more and more people join CATU, there will be more pressure on politicians to provide proper protections – so join CATU now and help make things better!

4. Fucking terrifying situation. The lads kicking the door in look like scumbags of the highest order.

   >This is the housing system in Ireland working exactly as intended

   No it isn’t.

   > We need proper protections for tenants so that shite like this never happens again.

   We already have proper protections. Tenants in Ireland have close to the best protections anywhere in the EU / the world.
   Tenancy law is HEAVILY in favour of tenants over landlords.

   To the point where even if you just stop paying rent… it’s a ballache to have you removed.

   The claim is that this is an Illegal eviction right?
   So then we already have the protections, but this landlord may be breaking the law and ignoring those protections?

5. Watch the bootlickers come out in force. Fuck these people and fuck the Gardai for helping them.

6. How the fuck are the guards taking the side of the guys outside? Surely the guards should be arresting them for attempted breaking and entering unless there is a court ordered eviction to be carried out.

7. There is either more to this story or the Landlord is retarded and open to a serious lawsuit.