Answer given by Vice-President Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission

28.6.2019

The Commission regularly engages with a number of stakeholders and institutions. However, there has been no contact with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the issues the Honourable Member has highlighted in his question.

A number of policies have been put in place to address the adverse social consequences of the reduction of non-performing loans (NPL). The Irish authorities have introduced schemes to provide support for vulnerable borrowers to engage with their banks and continue to live in their homes. The authorities have also adopted legislation to provide protection to tenants both before and after a loan sale. More broadly, the Commission has proposed a directive on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral on 14 March 2018, which, if adopted, will confirm (and for the area of mortgage credit establish) that the same consumer protection rules in place before a loan is sold will continue to apply after the sale.

While not planning to respond directly to the remarks by United Nations Special Rapporteur, the Commission continues to monitor the developments in the financial and housing markets and addresses any policy shortcomings in the context of the European Semester and the Post-Programme Surveillance. In particular for Ireland, the situation of tenants living in buy-to-let homes sold to third-parties and the role of institutional investors will be part of the assessments in the upcoming country visits and reports.