Is the Irish rental market sufficiently regulated

DS86

In comparison to other EU countries for instance? Are our laws surrounding the rental market and the rights and obligations of tenants and landlords up to scratch with EU standards, and are they on par with those of other EU countries? Also is it the case that we have strict laws in place, but that they are just not adhered to within Irish society in general? I mean there are certain examples, and I don't know how common such examples would be in other EU countries,

(a) There doesn't seem to be any price capping regarding rental market prices, e.g. a landlord can seemingly charge say €500 for a single bedroom, or within student towns - cram up to 10 people into a 3 or 4 bedroom house, with the sitting room often converted into a bedroom. Even then in such houses, shared bedrooms in even the smallest of rooms can go for up to and over €300.

(b) On rental advertising websites, landlords are allowed quite blatantly openly to discriminate against many tenants, with "rent allowance not accepted" statements on adverts. Shouldn't such statements on house/ room rental adverts and notices not be illegal, considering not least that many people are struggling, most particularly say students from disadvantaged backgrounds, or people who cannot find work and are on benefits etc?

(c) The absolutely appalling conditions that many rental houses are in, e.g. run down and damp etc. And yet the landlords of such properties can still charge extortionist prices for renting, particularly within towns where gullible students in desperate need of accommodation will pay for regardless.

(d) The mentality of "shure, it's my house isn't it". I don't know how many houses I've been in where the landlord, without any notice, and in respect of the fact that tenants are paying for a service - just invite themselves into the house unannounced.

(e) No background checks on rental websites online, e.g. making sure rental properties are registered with the PRTB, in compliance with basic BER standards etc. The latter of those two is certainly advertised on certain ads, but it is by no means a mandatory requirement.

(f) The mentality of "shure, it's my house isn't it" coming into play again where many landlords, despite their legal obligations think they can just kick people out on the spot, even if the tenants circumstances in the then and there do not permit them to move out.


And basically a hundred and one other factors. Is the rental market like this in other EU countries, or are they a lot stricter than here? I'd imagine that countries like Germany and France would have much more stricter regulations in relation to the rental market and landlord obligations for instance. Or do we in fact have an equally strict legal criteria for the rental market, but as with the banking system and political corruption in recent decades are just too lazy to enforce the rules from the top down, with the gombeen element getting off the hook as with other sectors of Irish society?

Grolschevik

Regulated, yes.

Enforced, no.

Policed, whatchoo talkin' about Willis.

Fol20

Your only looking at it from a tenants point of view..

What about the fact that if you have a non paying tenant, he can stay in the place for up to a year and the landlord is powerless to do anything.

They can cause thousands worth of damage, yet it isnt worth their while to go after the tenant for the money as solicitor fees plus the fact they may/may not pay back a nominal amount for years as their broke.

It is a business after all. Landlords should be able to pick/vet who they like to go into their property. People on rent allowance are dependant on the rates that a government give them to stay in a house. If the rates go down, do you really expect the landlord to say yea yera its grand. i dont mind receiving 100e less per month.

Snake

Fol20 wrote: »

Your only looking at it from a tenants point of view..

What about the fact that if you have a non paying tenant, he can stay in the place for up to a year and the landlord is powerless to do anything.

They can cause thousands worth of damage, yet it isnt worth their while to go after the tenant for the money as solicitor fees plus the fact they may/may not pay back a nominal amount for years as their broke.

It is a business after all. Landlords should be able to pick/vet who they like to go into their property. People on rent allowance are dependant on the rates that a government give them to stay in a house. If the rates go down, do you really expect the landlord to say yea yera its grand. i dont mind receiving 100e less per month.

If the rates go down serve notice. Simples. It's scandalous that so many landlords will refuse to look at you when you're on rent allowance.

Fol20

Snake wrote: »

If the rates go down serve notice. Simples. It's scandalous that so many landlords will refuse to look at you when you're on rent allowance.

Its not as simple as that..

As stated above, tenants can stay in the house for months without paying rent and landlords cannot do a thing.

Landlords have to be very careful when evicting as a illegal eviction can cause them thousands in a lawsuit.

If you were a business owner, where demand for your property was high, would you prefer the hassle and formalities that follow with RA or would you prefer a standard tenant to just pay rent without any other caveats in payment.

whippet

I have rented in a couple of cities across the globe and I can tell you that substandard landlords and accommodation isn't unique to ireland.

However, the OP's post seems to be a rant more than a constructive view of the irish (more so Dublin) market.

I am now a landlord (don't want to be .. but circumstances are such) and I can tell you that the odds are stacked against the genuine smalltime LL. Despite all the ranting I hear about greedy landlords and throwback to the times of absent british landlords many LLs are not making a penny from their properties and in many cases loosing money hand over fist. When things go pear shaped the reality is that the tenants only exposure is the lose of a single months deposit while the LL could face tens of thousands in lost rent, damages etc with no real recourse to pursue the rogue tenant.

I personally have been stung by a rogue tenant who did about €8k in damage to my house, didn't pay rent for about 4 months and left me with a house that couldn't be rented for two months after they left due to the required repairs etc. I couldn't pursue them for a single cent as it would have cost me more money than I lost and in reality due to the type of person the tenant was even if I could secure a judgment the chances of getting anything was nil.

What is needed is a reform of the resolution process .. the PRTB, which is financed by the Land Lords is a relatively toothless quango, slow to process anything. The requirement to bring a dispute to the PRTB before anything else means that automatically the LL is at a risk of a dispute becoming a case of over holding and a tenant staying rent free for up to 12 months .. and even then the LL will still need to go to the expense of the courts to resolve it.

A proper residential mediation agency is needed which has powers to enforce decisions. All LL and Tenants should have their PPS numbers recored in the tenancy and should a decision be made against either party after the end of the tenancy and the guilty party does not pay up the agency should have the power to garnish the income from the other party to settle - either social welfare, PAYE income or via revenue (self assessment). The agency should also be able to hold deposits in escrow.

unclebill98

Fol20 wrote: »

Your only looking at it from a tenants point of view..

What about the fact that if you have a non paying tenant, he can stay in the place for up to a year and the landlord is powerless to do anything.

They can cause thousands worth of damage, yet it isnt worth their while to go after the tenant for the money as solicitor fees plus the fact they may/may not pay back a nominal amount for years as their broke.

It is a business after all. Landlords should be able to pick/vet who they like to go into their property. People on rent allowance are dependant on the rates that a government give them to stay in a house. If the rates go down, do you really expect the landlord to say yea yera its grand. i dont mind receiving 100e less per month.

This sums it up in a nice little package. Made to register as a landlord, pay 2nd homes taxs and then get screw by some folks.

doolox

.. I would never have bought a 2nd house.

Govt charge LPT of €315 after years of NPPR at €200 per year which are not allowed for tax purposes. Only 75% of the interest paid on a mortgage is allowed for tax purposes where it used to be 100%.

Stuff like PRTB registration, electricity standing charges during voids, Oil or other heating during voids, repairs and maintenance, gardening etc all have to taken care of but your own labour is not allowed for tax purposes.

You end up as slave labour to the rapacious government who then wonder why there are so few houses to rent and rents are gone so high.

Also a person who rents his house to move somewhere to get a job if he loses his job in his present location is not allowed to offset rent paid at his new location, where the job is, off rent received from his previous house, often which he cannot sell in the current restricted market due to negative equity. Often people are PREVENTED from taking up a job offer by such inflexibility in the tax code.