THE DÁIL'S HOUSING committee has today heard calls for emergency legislation, to stop tenants being evicted simply because their landlord is selling up.
Current Irish law allows a tenant's lease to be broken if the landlord plans to sell the house - a clause which was reinforced last year, with landlords now being forced to sign statutory declarations of their plans to sell up.
But TDs believe the clause is still being exploited by landlords who simply want to remove one set of tenants before their lease has run out, and then hire another set for a higher rate.
The CEO of the housing charity Threshold says there's no reason why tenants can't be allowed to remain in a property, even if their landlord has sold it - similar to the system in commercial property.
The comments led to calls from Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd, who now says emergency legislation should be rushed through to stop tenants from facing eviction simply because their landlord is looking to sell.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
