Agus, Fáilte Arash to the Crazy House Prices podcast, the podcast where I help you buy your own home, understand the madness of the Irish housing market and figure out what needs to change.

I'm your host, Ciarán Mulqueen, and today in episode 39, we're going pretty big in this one, right?

So instead of talking about one single problem, I'm going to go through 21 real practical ways that we could actually fix housing in Ireland.

I've broken them down into three sections with seven ideas.

How to fix buying and selling, short-term fixes and long-term fixes.

These aren't random ideas or unrealistic kind of dreams that I've had.

They're kind of based on systems that already work in other countries.

Things that have been proven to make housing fairer, faster and more affordable.

The really annoying thing is that most of these fixes could be done pretty quickly or right now.

We just don't really seem to have the political will.

Now, before I get into it, please make sure you're subscribed to the podcast.

Please leave a rating, a review, a comment, all that kind of stuff that really helps get the podcast out there to more people.

It's free.

And I really think the ideas that I'm putting in today's episode could be really powerful.

So do share it in your WhatsApp groups, on your socials and all of that kind of thing.

And stick around because I have one idea that's not included in the 21, but just an overall kind of thing that I've been thinking about for years that I think is the overall solution.

All of our housing problems.

And I know that sounds too good to be true, but it's not.

So stick around to listen to that.

Anyway, let's get into it.

21 ways we could fix housing in Ireland, starting with how we buy and sell homes.

So fixing the buying and selling process.

Idea number one, a national digital bidding system.

So every bid should be logged, verified and visible to everyone, all parties.

So that means fake bids disappear overnight and buyers finally get to see what's going on.

There's much better transparency.

This could be done through a notary like they do in France.

Number two, a legally binding sale agree contract.

So once a sale is agreed, both sides sign a short contract that commits them to the sale, unless there's a genuine reason to pull out like a major defect or a financial issue.

This would make gazumping, gazumping would just be gone and it would stop kind of sales collapsing.

Idea number three, legally ready to sell.

So homes shouldn't be listed until they're legally ready to close.

So that means the title, probate, boundary checks are all done.

It might delay listings at first, but it would massively speed up completions later on.

Number four, a mandatory pre-sale survey.

So before home can go on the market, the seller should have to provide a professional survey.

Scotland do this and it saves everyone time, money and disappointment when hidden defects pop up later.

I have heard agents asking everybody bidding on a house to get a survey done.

So that could be 10 people getting a survey on the same house.

It's such a waste of time.

It's a waste of money.

And I think the owners should be on the sellers.

Number five, we need to strengthen regulation on estate agents.

So we need a proper housing ombudsman or a watchdog because currently the PSRA...

Has fairly limited enforcement powers.

Like no agent has ever lost their license for fake bids, even though it happens all the time.

So we need an independent regulator who can fine or suspend or take away licenses when rules are broken.

Idea number six, we need to standardize listings and advertisements.

So I think listings should have to include verified details like actual location, not saying it's in Terenura when it's in Walkistown.

You know, the usual kind of thing, glass Nevin instead of Ballymun.

Floor area needs to be accurate.

The BER rating has to be done and the cert number has to be on the advertisement.

And accurate guide prices so there's no more advertising houses.

200 grand below what they know the vendor will accept or what they know it's worth just to spark bidding wars.

And then idea number seven, I think we need a central communication platform like one shared online system where buyers, sellers, solicitors and estate agents can upload documents, see updates in real time, just like project management software that's in other industries.

This would reduce delays, get rid of miscommunication and stress for everyone.

So I think if we just fix those seven things, the buying and the selling process in Ireland would instantly become fairer, faster and far less painful.

Now let's look at short-term fixes for the overall housing market.

So onto idea number eight, to tackle vacant and derelict homes.

So there are over 160,000 homes in Ireland currently sitting empty.

So I think we need strong escalating vacancy taxes, a better grant system because the vacant home grant, the whole kind of Cree Cona thing is really complicated.

And I think we need more compulsory sale orders so the homes aren't left to rot.

This would exclude kind of holiday homes and that kind of thing, but basically long-term vacant homes and derelict homes and put a massive tax on them so that if somebody is holding onto something they can't afford to just keep it sitting there.

I think dereliction should be a.

Anyway, that's idea number eight.

Number nine, I think we need to restrict short-term lets like Airbnb.

So originally Airbnb was meant for spare rooms, not entire homes being rented year round.

So I think we need to limit this to let primary residences, limit it to primary residences and cap the number of nights per year.

And then this would release thousands of homes back into long term rental and sales supply.

The original idea was you'd rent out your spare room whenever you whenever you wanted to for a little bit of extra money.

Number 10, I think we need to expand cost rental housing.

So set the rents based on the cost of construction, not market rents, which is what they're currently doing.

So cost rental came from the Vienna model.

But when our government did it, instead of linking it to the cost of construction, they linked it to open market rates, which are obviously really, really high.

So Vienna model proves that like when you do it properly, it can create secure, affordable, long-term housing for working people.

Number 11, we need to reform council home sales.

So you can still allow people to buy their council home if they wish, but keep the land and state ownership.

And that way the home stays affordable forever instead of being flipped for profit later.

Number 12, enforce rent caps properly.

So rent pressure zones are being ignored all the time.

So we need real penalties for that, not just a couple of grand for landlords because they're making that a month.

So there's no incentive there for them to actually follow the rules because they can afford to break them.

It's a small fine at the moment and then away they go getting an extra couple of grand a month.

So we need real penalties for landlords that break the rules.

And I think we need mandatory RTB registration for every tenancy.

There are still thousands of landlords not registered with the RTB.

Number 13, we need more supply schemes and fewer demand side schemes like help to buy because they just push up prices.

So I think that money could be redirected to councils and housing bodies to actually build affordable homes.

And idea 14 is, I think we need to fast track modular and vacant homes.

So prefab and modular homes can be built within weeks, not years.

So combine that with like a kind of vacant to occupied program, and we could quickly create homes for people who need them the most.

So these are short-term achievable fixes that I think if implemented properly, we'd see results within a year or two.

And now on to long-term fixes.

So number 15, a sovereign housing bank.

So I think Ireland should use citizen savings to fund affordable housing.

France do this.

It's called Livre A, I think it's pronounced, and Finland do it.

It's called the Munifin.

Look, don't kill me for pronunciation there, but basically that's when councils and housing associations can borrow really cheaply and then they build that scale.

It has worked phenomenally well in France.

Number 16, Vienna-style land and zoning rules.

So when land is rezoned, cap the price at its pre-zoning value and reserve two-thirds of new land for affordable or social housing and this stops speculation and keeps cost stable.

The Vienna model is incredibly successful.

Number 17, build through non-profit housing companies.

We're doing this a little bit, but we need to do more.

So in Austria and in the Netherlands, they rely on non-profit builders who operate at cost rather than for profit.

So Ireland could establish similar kind of housing companies that keep prices affordable for generations to come.

18, end homelessness the way Finland did.

So they almost ended long-term homelessness completely by giving people permanent homes first and providing support services after like a wraparound thing.

It's cheaper, it's fairer and it's been proven to work.

Idea 19.

Youth housing like they have in Denmark.

So what Denmark do is they set aside a share of social housing specifically for young adults and students and that gives them independence early in life instead of forcing them to live with parents into their 30s.

20, stop land hoarding with a use it or lose it rules.

So developers who sit on zoned land without building should face heavy levies or they lose their zoning altogether.

And that would stop land banking and just kind of speculation on land and it would get new homes built faster.

And lastly, idea 21, a permanent housing watchdog.

So we need an independent housing observatory to track what government promises they make versus what they actually deliver.

And I think it should publish annual kind of like report cards and especially another report during election campaigns so that we can hold politicians accountable.

So they are my 21 ideas.

Now stick around for the next part because I think this is the overall way that we fix housing completely in Ireland.

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So here's what I think we need to do.

And I've been saying it for years.

I think we need to take housing out of politics because at the moment, every new government comes in and they scrap the last housing plan and everything starts over again.

It's just different slogans, but we're getting the same results.

So I think housing shouldn't depend on who's in power.

We need a long-term national housing strategy that every government must stick to, no matter what party is in charge.

Other countries already do this, like in Austria, in Finland, the Netherlands.

They all have independent housing agencies and long-term plans that outlive elections.

I think Ireland needs to do the same.

So a housing system that's based on evidence, not ideology, not policies that are written by lobbyists, one that just puts people before the parties and the lobbyists and just builds home regardless of the political cycle.

So just to quickly recap on everything there, that's seven ways to fix buying and selling, seven short-term solutions that could deliver homes within one or two years, and seven long-term reforms that would rebuild our housing system for the future.

The ideas are there, like these already work in different countries.

As I said, all we're missing here is just a political will to make it happen.

And I think if we take housing out of politics, that is the absolute solution to all of this.

August Sinead, lahay on episode 2 of the Crazy House Prices podcast I hope this episode gave you some hope or if it made you a little bit angry or whatever way it made you feel please just share it with a friend or tag me on Instagram at Crazy House Prices and if you want to support what I do and get access to bonus Q&As you can join my Patreon it's only €3 a month and it helps keep the podcast going keeps the Instagram page going gives you exclusive access to my Instagram audience as well if you want to ask questions and I answer all of your questions there as well.

I do podcasts over there all the time.

And of course, my book, How to Buy a Home in Ireland, you should be able to get it everywhere or actually just get it in your local library.

You can get it there for free.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

And remember, Ireland's housing crisis is not inevitable.

We have solutions there.

There are solutions there.

It can be fixed.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Sláonga fóill.

You.