The Government must “move swiftly” to deal with cuckoo funds if it is to convince the public it has “even a semblance of a housing policy”.
This is the view of Independent Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice, who is calling on the coalition to “immediately” bring forward “practical tax proposals” that will hit cuckoo funds “where it hurts”.
The official term for cuckoo funds is Private Rented Sector funds and they are backed by institutional investors like pension funds, and involves the block purchasing of rental properties. The term cuckoo comes from the fact that such buying has the effect of pushing many individuals out of the housing market.
'A new landlord class'
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“They are a new landlord class invited in by our own people,” said Dep Fitzmaurice. “Like the cuckoo they create nothing and their only response to housing is to tip every-one else out of the nest. Housing is now just the latest example of how we are becoming a two-tiered society.”
Dep Fitzmauriuce noted that in Britain, the Tories have tackled cuckoo funds by applying a 15 per cent rate. “Here by contrast a first-time buyer pays the same percentage rate of stamp duty on a home as a cuckoo fund,” he said.
Dep Fitzmauriuce said any new housing policy must be centred on the theme of a home being the place where a person lives, rather than as a speculative investment. “It is bad enough that we are not building houses, but now there are no houses to buy,” he said. “Ordinary people cannot compete with billionaires.”
