A national housing charity is urging the Government to introduce a strategy on private rented housing "urgently".

According to Threshold, which launched its Annual Report for 2013 today, the private rented sector is not fit for purpose because of poor regulation and loopholes in existing legislation.

Speaking at the launch, Senator Aideen Hayden, Chairperson of Threshold, said: "The private rented sector has grown exponentially in recent years: it now provides housing for one in five families in Ireland.

"However, there are chronic failings in the sector that need to be addressed before anyone living in a rented dwelling can really consider it their long-term home.

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"The Residential Tenancies Act was introduced in 2004 to modernise the private rented sector. Ten years on, the sector has doubled in size, and the legislation has not been flexible enough to keep pace.

"Loopholes in the law are enabling landlords to remove tenants from their homes and then re-advertise the same properties at substantially higher rents. Threshold is increasingly witnessing such economic evictions, where families are forced to leave their homes because of exorbitant rent hikes.

"The 2004 legislation also fails to ensure regulations around minimum standards in rented housing are enforced. Standards and repairs were the main issue for clients contacting Threshold last year, accounting for one in fiveof all queries received.

"The current system of local authority inspections was designed for a different era when the rented sector was much smaller than it is today. What is needed now is a certification scheme – an 'NCT for housing' – which would place the responsibility for proving compliance with the landlord."

(CD/JP)