“Having private, for-profit care goes against all you are trying to achieve for children in care,” says Terry Dignan, a spokesperson for charities that run children’s homes.
Councils are reluctant to use the single-stage process because they take on more risk if something goes wrong, says Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin.
There are clear guidelines and rules that landlords must abide by, if they are evicting tenants, in cases where the tenants aren’t accused of anti-social behaviour or rent arrears.
For a start, a notice of termination must be given in writing, not by text, verbally, or by email. If a notice is valid, then tenants are entitled to a certain period of notice – between 28 days and 224 days – depending on how long they have lived in a place.
For those who have been a tenant in one place for more than six months, there are six reasons a landlord can evict you: for breach of obligations, if they are selling the property, if they need it for a family member or themselves, if it needs refurbishment, if it is undergoing a change of use, or if it isn’t suitable for the household anymore.
(You can read detailed guidance from Threshold, the housing-advice organisation, on their site.)
But are landlords abiding by these rules? We want to understand what reasons people are given for their evictions across the city, whether they are legal notices, and how tenants decide whether or not to challenge the eviction.