A group representing landlords and property owners wants rent pressure zones to be scrapped at the end of the year.
The Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA), says rules around rent increases, and indefinite tenancies is causing some landlords to sell up.
The current 2% cap on rent increases is due to be reviewed at the end of the year.
IPOA’s has published its election manifesto, and is calling for election candidates to "use their voice to reduce legislative burdens on the rental sector".
Rory Hearne, who's a lecturer in Social Policy at Maynooth University and a Social Democrats' candidate for Europe, says struggling landlords should be supported to leave the rental market.
" I think, that if a landlord feels that it's not viable for them to be in the market, the State should buy that home and use it as a social home or affordable home.
"So no landlord is forced to stay in the market if they don't want to be there.
"What we shouldn't be doing is saying that tenants have to suffer through being able to be evicted quite easily, their lack of tenant protections, or this constant rise in rents which is squeezing them and squeezing them".
CEO of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, Pat Davitt, says rent pressure zones have resulted in fewer landlords putting properties on the market.
"Why rent is €2,000 in Dublin at the moment is quite simple. Because no new properties is coming to the market.
"And the reason they're not coming to the market is because there's too much restriction and the properties that are in the market at the moment, many, many landlords are renting their properties way, way under the rent.
"They're, they're not getting market rent for their properties, and the market needs to relax and let those properties into the market at market rent. That's all we're asking".
