One in four small landlords has indicated they will sell their property and exit the rental market in the next five years.

Data from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which will be outlined to the Oireachtas Housing Committee today, indicates that the exodus of landlords from the market is set to continue.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said yesterday that he wants to introduce incentives to retain small landlords in the shrinking rental market.

Figures from this August showed that almost 5,600 landlords exited the market in the first eight months of 2022 - double the rate in the same period in 2021.

They followed 15,165 who left between 2017 and 2020, equating to a potential loss of roughly 40,000 properties in the rental market. Mr Varadkar said: "It was important to help renters before we would do anything for landlords, but one area that everyone will recognise - and the housing charities and NGOs are among the people who will say this to me - is that there are a large number of small landlords who are exiting the market."

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He added: "When the eviction ban ends [in April], that may accelerate again, causing more homelessness."

The latest homelessness figures released last week, showed a record 11,397 people are in emergency accommodation, including almost 3,500 children, sparking fresh criticism over the Government's handling of the housing crisis.

The Government did not give tax incentives to landlords in the Budget, but sources say they are back on the table.

The Tánaiste also said he wants to look at initiatives where landlords "can sell their property with the tenant in situ so that that becomes social housing".

In his opening statement to the committee today, RTB chair Tom Dunne will say: "A quarter of the small landlords surveyed stated they are either likely or very likely to sell their rental properties in the next five years, with just over half saying they were unlikely to sell. Most small landlords, 94%, are part-time landlords and do not manage properties as their primary occupation."

The survey data also shows that 90% of property owners are "reporting a positive experience with their tenants".

While a buoyant property market has made it appealing for landlords to sell their properties, there is evidence that issues around the complex regulatory environment could also be contributing to the current exodus.

The RTB will be advocating for reform of the existing Residential Tenancies Act in its forthcoming strategy for 2023-25.

"Clearly, complex legislation and rules can give rise to confusion or to a risk of inadvertent non-compliance," Mr Dunne will tell the committee.