Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
CALLS HAVE BEEN made for the regulation of the rented room sector as Dublin’s accommodation crisis worsens.
While there are strong rules on formal tenancies, the rules around people who rent out rooms in their own homes are much looser.
Under current rules, homeowners can earn up to €14,000 a year tax free by renting out a room in their home.
However, the rules regarding homeowners who take in a tenants’ obligations are not particularly formalised. Tenants who take up rooms don’t come under the Residential Tenancies Board and landlords don’t have to register with the Irish Property Owners’ Association, both of those organisations confirmed.
The Citizens Information Bureau advises homeowners who are renting out a room that is not self contained:
“If the part of your home that you rent out is not self-contained, you are not covered by landlord and tenant legislation, so the rights and obligations under that legislation do not apply to you. For example, you are not obliged to register as a landlord with the RTB, provide a rent book to the tenant or ensure that the accommodation provided meets any minimum physical standards.
“This also means that private tenants living in your home are living under a licensee agreement, not a tenancy agreement, and are really only entitled to reasonable notice if you choose to terminate the agreement. Tenants are, however, entitled to refer disputes under the Small Claims Procedure.”
Renting
Luke is from the west of Ireland and has been dealing with such an issue. He did not take a place in a Dublin college last year because he could not get accommodation.
Having finally found a room in the capital this month, he says the experience has been “a nightmare”.
“We agreed I would pay €450 a month for the room which I’m subletting. When I got here, they upped it to €500, then wanted to up it again. I was assured all of my bills including water, electricity and internet would be covered. The internet never came that I was changed €65 euro for. The professional cleaner, while completely unnecessary, was also factored into the rent at €60 a month. Neither of which were followed through on. They had an iron, but no ironing board.
“Now they’ve told me to be gone by the end of the month because I used their bin bags and washing up liquid and wouldn’t pay €10 for them.
“I was told once a week I had to clean the two toilets, hoover the whole house and clean the kitchen. I cleaned everything straight away after me, so any mess there wasn’t mine. So to pay for the cleaning products and to do the cleaning wasn’t right or fair. When I refused, I was told to be gone by the end of the month.
“I wouldn’t mind if there was a reason, but I go out first thing in the morning and I’m quiet and clean when I’m in the house. There’s no regulation or anyone making sure it’s safe. The fact that nothing is being done to protect people is insane. I’m not an isolated case.
“I’ve been on the phone all day trying to find a new place. Starting from square one again after a 5 month journey to find this place is heartbreaking.”
Luke has since sent at least 35 messages to prospective landlords. He has received one response. He says that his chances of attending college in Dublin will be affected if he can’t find a home.
“It feels like what they mean on ads when they say ‘ideal for students’ is a small room with two sets of bunk beds. When you’re a kid you tell your parents you don’t want to share a room with your siblings because you’re too big. Why would you share a room with three strangers as an adult?
“The newly-built student accommodation that is being built simply isn’t affordable. What 18-22 year-old can afford €1,000 a month?
“It feels like nobody cares about us – which is a horrible way to feel. If you’re here tomorrow grand, if not, all the best.”
Fine Gael TD Noel Rock said that the time has come for rent protection legislation to extended to licensees. He added that those who overcharge for rooms are “gougers”.
I think rent protection zone legislation needs to apply to licensees at this stage, and as per my Rent Transparency Bill 2017 that I set down in the Dail some months ago, a rent property price register needs to be established for full transparency on these issues, so we can be sure that this type of gouging – and it is gouging – doesn’t continue to take place.
“Some landlords are working their hardest to get away with whatever price they can. I’ve heard of €950 for a single room for a month. They’re giving decent landlords a bad name and we need to legislate and regulate to put an end to it.”
According to a Daft rental report in November, the cost of renting in Ireland has never been higher.
The latest quarterly rental report by Daft.ie shows that the average monthly rent across the country was €1,198 in the third quarter of the year.
In Dublin, the increase in rents in the year to September 2017 was 12.3% and rents in the capital are now almost 23% higher than their previous peak in 2008, or €330 a month.
In the city centre, the average rent is €1,819, with the south city and south county more expensive at €1,890 and €1,955, respectively.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Take the vaccine for others benefit even if you dont take it for your own well being.
@Nomis Andrews: you hardly think they will take it for someone else’s sake do you!!??
@Jonnie Marre: altruistic much?
@Jonnie Marre: It would be nice to think that people would take it for the common good as well as for their own self interest in being safe. The vaccine will only be effective if enough of the population take it. For those who are wavering, thinking of the common good might help them over the line.
@Jonnie Marre: that’s why we wear masks. To protect others and not ourselves!
@jeanette: not really, they protect both!
@jeanette: we wear masks because we needed to be seen to do something, even if there was no evidence of the benefit.
Also where can we draw the line on what is acceptable to save others? Wear a mask every winter? Take a vaccine for every communicable disease known? Pay 80% tax to save others….
Is there anything to be said for, I’ll take my own chances, you take yours?
@Barry C: Fine, take your own chances but don’t ever call an ambulance or fire brigade. Stay off the roads and out of the hospitals and schools, don’t claim any form of social welfare or use any government services. You know, all the things that society pays for that we don’t use all of the time because its for the greater good.
@Barry C: “No evidence of benefit of masks”. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm In short 2 hairdressers with covid who wore masks worked with 139 clients, none of the clients picked up the disease.
@David Horgan: thanks for that. Interesting article that I was unaware of.
It falls a bit short of a rigorous scientific study with control groups and full testing of all participants etc. It does suggest that masks might work but we have lots of things SUGGESTING that but nothing proving it. Not to a level where it is satisfactory to tell the population ” put a mask on or face prison”
@Cian – Wash your: that’s just a silly response and avoids my question/ point. Where does it stop Cian?
Face masks forever? Would you wear an adult nappy when you leave the house, like them Chinese airline staff? You know, for the greater good.
@Barry C: plenty of evidence that masks not only protect others but also protect the wearer. And in the grand scheme of things wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic is not a big ask at all. It’s an inconvenience at most and yet you still have people whinging about it. The biggest shock to me was there are people who are anti handwashing in all this . Yuck ! We cannot survive without looking out for the common good btw . Selfishness will only get you so far. Life saving measures don’t compare to other measures like paying tax btw.Especially when it’s simple measures like masks social distancing and hand washing ! It’s easy to think you will never be vulnerable and never dependent on others but the time will come and you will be . Then how you treated others will have taught others how to treat you . Remember that .
@Jonnie Marre: I’ve had Covid19 which I hope has given me some level of immunity. But if offered the vaccine I will take it because my siblings are all in their 60s and 70s and I would hate to pass something on to them. I think most younger people will be taking it out of concern for older relatives more so than themselves. I think you underestimate the goodness in the average Irish person
@Barry C: we definitely know not wearing a mask won’t stop it, do you agree with that?
@Barry C: why do surgeons wear masks in an operating theatre?
@Barry C: I wear a mask to protect others. It would be great if it would protect me too but evidence just shows it might protect the person wearing it.
As far as I’m concerned these vaccines can’t come fast enough. I put my faith in medicine and science to get back as close to normality as we can. The false information and scare mongering regarding covid by anti vaxxers is nothing short of criminal.
@Gavin Courtney: agree on the anti vax people, but I’m weary of the opinion that a fast vaccination will bring us back to normal. While I have hope for mRNA vaccines, especially in cancer care, they have literally just been released. There are a lot of checks and balances that have been bypassed for fast vaccination, so much so that there seems to be an arms race to vaccinate as many people as possible. Any rational scientist would err on the side of caution and long term reviews on side effects, but this is ignored because of the exact anti vax gombeens.
As a country, we should observe trials elsewhere and keep lockdowns for another few months. Unfortunately, people are literally begging for this to be injected into them at a time when caution is needed.
@James Ward: So 22,000 people hit the vaccine . The side effects are minimal . Chances for most people of getting severe Covid 500 to one . I’ll take my chances with the vaccine thanks
@James Ward: this might be the first one released but they have been working on Mrna vaccines since the early 2000s and Sars
@Gavin Courtney: Absolutely true. I have done some research on the Pfizer vaccine and it is a medical marvel I would have complete confidence in its safety.
@Adrian Versey: what’s in it do you know?
@James Ward: can you provide me with evidence that lots of checks and balances have been bypassed please ?
@James Ward: to really get a true understanding of rna there’s over 40 years of work gone into it, this scaremongering is being fed by…..ignorance https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-women-who-discovered-rna-splicing
It’s Depressing watching the vaccine being rolled out in the UK, US,and now Canada while we are told the EU regulator might be approving one or two by the end of the month and once voted on by the 27 EU countries they will start to distribute .Our Taoiseach says we will get limited supplies in January or February and more in March , April, and May.
FFS hurry up willya !
@Terry Cahill: Here here !!
The top of the page says 32 comments. There are 19 in the comments section. Never let it be said that this is an open forum or that the journal do not censor any comments that go even remotely against their narrative.
@Michael Philips: Different narratives are fine . Lies and misinformation aren’t different narratives though . They are just lies and misinformation . The journal are most likely removing anti vaxx misinformation posts . The journal have led the way on countering lies and misinformation during this pandemic with their fact check articles . Anti vaxxers always cry censorship when they aren’t allowed spread their lies and misinformation . You should know that. It’s a common tactic .
@Michael Philips: in fairness to the journal, and I say this as someone who has been edited by them several times, they don’t claim to be an “open forum” and have Ts&Cs regarding what can and can’t be posted. Do you know what comments were deleted and what “narrative” they went against?
@Purplepickle: will you stop their fact checked articles were a stretch at best in most. I’m all for the vaccine but don’t be fooled by cheap media. They used the Pfizer press release as part of their fact check rather than the published papers which came later. Bit of sense is needed in all this too you know
Anti-vaxxers get on average 125 points in the leaving cert. Fact.
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: I’d be surprised if most of them made it as far as the leaving
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: that’s 125 more than you got I’d say.
@James Ferguson: I got 725, extra points for being so amazing at everything.
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: it’s a class issue is it???? Look at the bias. Gwan ya troll
@Gearóid Ó Tuama: I hear you’ve a 12 inch tongue and can breather through your ears. The ladies love you I’d say and the bottoms of the boys behind the shed
Reposting due to the journal’s censorship policy of deleting any comments they don’t align with their narrative. It is not known if the vaccine reduces transmission or provides immunity – Albert Bourla – CEO Pfizer. Many medical experts have said the same. The vaccine is claimed to suppress symptoms and so will create asymtomatic spreaders. The vaccine cannot have a statistically significant impact in saving lives in under 70’s due to the death rate being so low. Apart from that it’s what we’ve all been waiting for.
@Michael Philips: It’s not known YET if it reduces transmission but at the moment the belief is it is . They are just waiting on more data. The vaccine will likely provide full protection in the vast majority of people taking it and for the rest the severe complications will be removed . There are people behind all those statistics . Just because you don’t think you will die doesn’t mean it’s ok if others die. There is 32% of the population of Ireland with underlying conditions . Death rates aren’t higher because of shielding and cocooning by the vast majority of them. These people want very much to get back to work college school and their lives . So this is what we are waiting for .
are they really vaccines ? they dont stop you catching covid but reduce symptoms. that sounds like treatmenter to me. yo still have to isolate and social distance everywhere as far as I can see.
@ed w: bring back red thumbs
@Fabio Dillon: why this is what I’m reading in scientific papers that the Pfizer vaccine reduces symptoms it doesnt prevent infection ? or did I read that wrong ?
And the band played on
What is keeping the role out of vacationing when thousands are dead?
Who is responsible?
Why and how many more will die because of the delay?
Please someone ask the question.
@Hubert Morris MIPAV: commenting while driving Hubert?!
@Hubert Morris MIPAV: try following the news a bit more closely instead of demanding answers here. All your answers can be found there. There’s no delay.
@Paul Furey: not a delay because the regulators for EU have not approved it yet but certainly very slow and no word until 29 th December . everyone will have a nice peaceful christmas with all the work done and hold back the approval til 29th . how convenient . of course it was for safety concerns but I would bet it’s ready for approval and it should be approved and rolling out by now… to save lives I imagine.
Why does Ronan Glynn always look gloomy
@Paul Dolan: because he is tired from working so hard.
@Paul Dolan: He has to report the number of people who are sick or dead on TV everyday. What do you want him to do, whistle Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah?
it would have been better to vaccinate one whole country first to see if it works, say a small country eg iceland has a population of approx half a million or estonia 1 million.
@michael macken: the optics of using one country as Guinea Pigs wouldn’t be great
What the hell is this man talking about have they all decided the EU is rulng on all this and sure they have eve discussed it yet ??
have your say