“The majority of these renters (67pc) were asked to leave their home as the landlord intended to sell it,” said Threshold’s National Advocacy Manager, Ann-Marie O’Reilly.

“This has spelt disaster for many people as moving house can often mean having to pay a much higher rent. It’s hard to find a new home in the right location, close to transport networks to get to school, work and close to family.”

Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act introduced this year aims to make it harder for landlords to evict people over reasons like selling, move in themselves or to renovate, within a six-year tenancy period.

However, many of the older rules apply for people who have been renting before March 1, 2026.

“I don’t think the law has completely addressed the issue,” said Brian McDonagh, a Fingal councillor who has campaigned for a ban on no-fault evictions.

“One of the criteria of the new law is that, if the home is no longer suitable for the family size, they can still be evicted – I’m concerned that some people will lease a house, then circumstances change where they have more children, and you could be evicted based on that.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but I don’t think it’s going to solve the problem for many people we would deal with.”

The Labour councillor for Howth-Malahide said he began the campaign as a response to an increase of families in homelessness in his constituency.

“I’ve had a lot of cases where people of all income brackets are given notices to quit where they haven’t done anything wrong,” said Cllr McDonagh, at a council meeting earlier this year.

“It’s the single biggest cause of people going into emergency accommodation. I have tenants who have been served a notice three times in less than six years – we’ve seen entire families being evicted.”

Ms O’Reilly from Threshold said that her organisation is hopeful about the “positive” legislation introduced this year.

“It is proposed that “large” landlords, those with four plus tenancies, will be unable to evict on such grounds, while “small” landlords, those with three tenancies or less, will be restricted in issuing such notices,” she said.

“This is a significant step in the right direction to make renting secure and a legitimate, long-term housing option.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme