The Government is to give the Private Residential Tenancies Board additional powers in an attempt to tackle the rent crisis.

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan unveiled their housing package yesterday after months of discussion.

The measures include a two-year freeze on rent reviews, a 90-day notification of a rent increase and 100 per cent mortgage relief for landlords who take on social-security tenants.

Mr Kelly said the PRTB will be given additional powers to monitor landlords. He did not say what extra resources or money the agency would get.

The housing package, which will be in place by the end of this month, will ensure a two-year freeze on rent reviews. That means tenants who have had a rent increase this year will not have another one until 2017 at the earliest.

Landlords will also have to provide evidence of three more similarly priced properties in their area to justify rent increases and must inform tenants on how to dispute excessive rents.

Landlords who claim they are selling their home or moving a family member into their property must sign a statutory declaration of their intentions.

Mr Noonan said this was the first in a number of steps to deal with the housing crisis.

He said the supply of housing would be a constant theme for the next government. He said he hoped the package would work but confirmed there was no review planned to ensure the proposals were functioning as intended.

The measures also include a tightening of legislation regarding antisocial tenants. If a landlord does not take action to address antisocial behaviour, the legislation allows for a third party affected by such behaviour – such as a neighbour or a residents’ association – to take a case to the PRTB.

It will also allow landlords to get an order from the District Court to remove a tenant from their property. This previously had to be done through the Circuit Court.

Mr Kelly denied discussions about the package had been a bruising affair and insisted he was satisfied with the package – despite his proposals to link rent increases to inflation being dropped.

“I was committed to doing something in the whole rental area. I think this is rent certainty,” he said.

“What we have here is rents being frozen for two years. I believe the supply side is going to take a couple of years to come on.

“What we need to give is certainty to people who are renting and this does that. I am very satisfied with that.”

The proposals also include a number of measures on the supply side, including a review of apartment-building guidelines.

The new measures will deal with specific issues such as the required number of lifts in apartment complexes, car parking supply and the provision of dual-aspect apartments that are not specifically addressed in the current guidelines. This aims to save developers €20,000 per apartment.

Mr Noonan will move to introduce a once-off initiative to kick-start new housing construction at more affordable prices.

Rebates will apply where a development has more than 50 homes and where houses are priced under €300,000 in Dublin and €250,000 in Cork.