Almost 400 personal stories about soaring rents were submitted to housing minister Simon Coveney as part of the ‘secure rents’ campaign, which is being supported by IMPACT and other trade unions. The material is also informing a briefing document and lobbying tool in advance of the publication of the Government’s ‘residential rental sector strategy’ next month.

The campaign is calling for rent increases to be linked to inflation, and an end to landlords’ ability to evict tenants in order to sell properties. It also wants current four-year leases to be turned into indefinite leases.

The union campaign is asking people to continue to sign the petition and share it on social media.  A series of public meetings has also been arranged, at which people will be encouraged to put pressure on their local TDs. The meetings take place in:

• Limerick IMPACT office (Thursday 17^th November at 7pm)
• Galway Harbour hotel (Wednesday 23^rd November 23^rd at 7pm)
• Cork Imperial hotel (Monday 28^th November 28^th at 7pm)
• Dublin Liberty Hall (Monday, 5^th December at 7pm).

IMPACT lead organiser, Joe O’Connor said: "The living standards of 750,000 renters across the country are sinking under the weight of consistently exorbitant rent increases. The latest Daft.ie quarterly figures report the highest rate of annual increase ever on record of 11.7%, with Savills projecting that this is set to rise by a further 26% over the next two years.”

#SecureRents  SecureRents.com