Landlords are hitting tenants with rent hikes of up to 10% as the Covid freeze ends.
The sharp practice has been highlighted by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who has told the Irish Mirror about one constituent who has been presented with a rent increase of €166 a month, from €1,614 to €1,780.
In another case, a man is facing a hike of €107, from €1,383 to €1,490.
Mr Murphy is calling on the government to introduce emergency legislation to prevent landlords from imposing rent hikes once the current partial freeze is lifted in July.
This is happening because landlords are being allowed to impose last year's 4% increase on top of this year's increase.
And in some cases, like above, where the rent review period has not come around for more than two years, it can be higher again.
The Tallaght TD said that legislation must be enacted urgently to prevent landlords from imposing these increases on tenants.
He said: “Last week it was clear that the Tánaiste was caught off guard on the issue of landlords imposing an effective double rent increase in one year.
“The reports that I have received from people about shocking levels of increases are truly disgraceful.
“But even in the normal course of events, this government, and successive governments, have presided over a housing crisis where renters have to tolerate a 4% increase on already unaffordable rent.
“I find it ironic that the Fine Gael by-election candidate in Dublin Bay South, Councillor James Geoghegan, is calling for high rental costs to be addressed when his government and previous governments have done nothing to reduce rents or make renting in this country affordable for people.
“This situation cannot go on and the government must, as a matter of urgency, legislate to ban this practice.
“It should also reimpose a full freeze on rents immediately and at the same time impose a complete ban on evictions, at the very least until the end of the pandemic.”
On Thursday the Dáil will debate PBP’s Right to Housing Bill.
Mr Murphy added: “This Bill, if enacted, would insert, via a referendum, the right to housing as part of 'the common good in the constitution and delimit private property rights in favour of the right to secure, affordable housing for all.'”
