Students are being urged to scrutinise any leases they sign or are about to sign, ahead of new legislation aimed at curtailing accommodation providers from demanding 51-week leases. The Housing Minister of State, Malcolm Noonan, called for student vigilance as the Dáil reviewed a Bill which limits leases to a maximum of 41 weeks for student accommodations, unless specifically requested otherwise by the student.
The bill will also curb landlords from demanding deposits that exceed a month’s rent upfront to secure a tenancy, and it permits students to issue a 28-day termination notice anytime between May 1st and October 1st, protecting them from paying summer accommodation charges.
This legislation arose from a campaign by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and student activists, following a number of cases where student accommodation providers charged for 51 weeks occupancy, though most students only stay for the academic term.
The Bill will swiftly pass through the Dáil and Seanad this week, with Senators set to vote on an early signature motion requesting President Michael D Higgins to review the Bill within five days of its Oireachtas passage.
While presenting the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien emphasised that a “modest yet significant number” of private student accommodation providers were using booking portals that demanded payments exceeding the legal limits to secure tenancy. He advised them to promptly revise their booking portals to only request legal upfront payments.
The proposed law will also entitle a student who changes courses soon after the term starts, to terminate their fixed-term agreement until October 1st every year.
However, Sinn Féin’s Mairéad Farrell pointed out that the legislation was introduced much later in the year, which would disadvantage those who signed contracts and cannot take advantage of it.
Ms. Farrell commended the efforts of “students, student unions, and many others” whose activism led to the introduction of the Bill. Even though implementing new law retrospectively when dealing with contracts is challenging, Farrell believes that it’s crucial to help as many students as possible avoid 51-week lease obligations from September onwards.
Ms Farrell voiced her disapproval of the predatory fund model applied in delivering student housing, stressing that it lacks “affordability at its core” and lacks affordable aspects entirely.
Turning student living quarters into a source of investment funds implies an entirely dissimilar fiscal approach, predicated on boosted rental returns and reduced tax payments.
In adding, Ms Farrell mentioned that “the least expensive single resident room at Galway’s Westwood complex, which comes under asset manager, GSA, costs €8,502 for a 39-week lease, but with the imposition of a 51-week lease, the rent could jump to €11,118.”
Ivana Bacik, leader of the Labour party, stated that companies demanding 51-week leases are simply attempting to gain excessive profit which escalates cost hurdles for those wishing to partake in tertiary education.
The Bill introduces “beneficial adaptability so that student lodgings will now align with the traditional academic year from September to May, unless a tenant requests a lease period longer than that”.
She urged for the discontinuation of the “practice of selling off public belongings to the private market and of assisting private entities in acquiring and dominating the student housing market.”
The Bill’s committee and remaining stages will be examined on Wednesday, preceding its transition to the Seanad on Thursday.