Can landlords discriminate against students?

Danleo171

Ive been looking for a place for me and my friends to live for the next year in Bishopstown or nearby in Cork and havent been able to find any landlords who would accept students. Now im not about to take any action over it and i can understand why they might prefer a family or people in a full time job but is it still legal to outright refuse students?

Eric Cartman

I think legally they can, but students are incredibly annoying for landlords as typically they only want a 9 month lease , and a lot sign a 12 month one, then on month 9 use the deposit as last months rent and just leave.

If you talk to a landlord and can 100% assure them that you will all be staying for 12 months, then id imagine you might get something.

newacc2015

Eric Cartman wrote: »

I think legally they can, but students are incredibly annoying for landlords as typically they only want a 9 month lease , and a lot sign a 12 month one, then on month 9 use the deposit as last months rent and just leave.

If you talk to a landlord and can 100% assure them that you will all be staying for 12 months, then id imagine you might get something.

It is not the lease for landlords that it is the issue. It is the fact that students are a lot more work. Students dont see anything wrong with their rent being constantly late or partying until the early hours. Not all students are like that, but a lot are. There is the fact that students tend to do more wear and tear on a house.

If you have the choice between an easier professional or a student, I would pick the professional anytime

Danleo171

Ya from most ive been told simply that they are only interested in "young professionals" or families even after making it clear that this would be for the full year and we'd be living there year round. One asked for working references but I have no job yet and id assume they wouldnt accept proof of grant payments or other payments

the_syco

They want the house to have someone in it for the 12 months. Some students think that as they're not in the house for most of December, that they don't need to pay rent, and other silly crap. For a lot of landlords, I'd say they have gotten burned a long time ago, and just avoid students now.

Lux23

A friend of mine just bought a one bed apartment and put four beds into it plus the bare essentials. He reckons he can get €2,000 a month easily with four students and then airbnb in the summer. I think he is asking for trouble, I know the complex and a lot of more settled people live there.

whiskeyman

Lux23 wrote: »

A friend of mine just bought a one bed apartment and put four beds into it plus the bare essentials. He reckons he can get €2,000 a month easily with four students and then airbnb in the summer. I think he is asking for trouble, I know the complex and a lot of more settled people live there.

2 bunk beds?? :eek:

Jaysus... sure the living area must be tiny
Probably no room for a crying chair!

endacl

whiskeyman wrote: »

2 bunk beds?? :eek:

Jaysus... sure the living area must be tiny
Probably no room for a crying chair!

There'll be a crying stool, but it'll have to be shared.

ted1

Danleo171 wrote: »

Ive been looking for a place for me and my friends to live for the next year in Bishopstown or nearby in Cork and havent been able to find any landlords who would accept students. Now im not about to take any action over it and i can understand why they might prefer a family or people in a full time job but is it still legal to outright refuse students?

Yes at the end of the day they have a asset worth several hundred thousand euro, they can choose who to give it do and do to many bad experiences they choose not to give it to young people who genreally have no income, party mid week, disappear 9 months into 12 month leases etc

Danleo171

Lux23 wrote: »

A friend of mine just bought a one bed apartment and put four beds into it plus the bare essentials. He reckons he can get €2,000 a month easily with four students and then airbnb in the summer. I think he is asking for trouble, I know the complex and a lot of more settled people live there.

I reckon he would probably find some people desperate enough for it knowing how hard it is to find student accommodation this time of year

Lux23

Lux23 wrote: »

A friend of mine just bought a one bed apartment and put four beds into it plus the bare essentials. He reckons he can get €2,000 a month easily with four students and then airbnb in the summer. I think he is asking for trouble, I know the complex and a lot of more settled people live there.

What a knob. More proof rent controls are a necessity these days.

Sad Professor

Most landlords don't seem to want students, which is allowing the ones who do to milk them for every penny while offering below standard accommodation. A girl on the radio the other day described viewing a one bed apartment. The landlord/tenant was sleeping in the kitchen and renting out the bedroom, the door of which had to be kept open so that the landlord/tenant could access the bathroom.

However I don't think bringing in more anti-discrimination measures will help students anymore than it has helped people on RA/HAP, who are still being discriminated against except now they are being strung along by landlords who are prevented from stating upfront that they don't want anyone on social welfare. Our private rental sector isn't designed for students, people on housing lists or people wishing to rent long-term. Different groups have different housing needs. No everyone is a homeowner or a young professional. It seems the student accommodation issue is being addressed with a lot new units being built, but social housing and long-term renting needs to addressed too.

snubbleste

Mr.S wrote: »

I'm surprised there isn't more private student accommodation in our college towns / cities tbh, seems like it would be a very easy gig.

Oh but there is, under Section 50, then that tax relief expired after ten years and reverted to all private rented/sold.

conorhal

the_syco wrote: »

They want the house to have someone in it for the 12 months. Some students think that as they're not in the house for most of December, that they don't need to pay rent, and other silly crap. For a lot of landlords, I'd say they have gotten burned a long time ago, and just avoid students now.

It will become a lot more common for students to remain in Dublin or around the university towns during the summer and seek part time jobs in those areas because it will become a necessity to retain their rented accomodation at all costs given the shortage of accomodation. Can you imagine flat hunting every 12 months in this market? The days of a 9 month lease are done.

Grolschevik

And An Bord Pleanala just rejected a proposal to covert a building opposite Pearse St Garda station into dedicated student accommodation...

dr.fuzzenstein

Danleo171 wrote: »

Ive been looking for a place for me and my friends to live for the next year in Bishopstown or nearby in Cork and havent been able to find any landlords who would accept students. Now im not about to take any action over it and i can understand why they might prefer a family or people in a full time job but is it still legal to outright refuse students?

Renting in Ireland is absolutely equal and open to anyone, that is enshrined in law. As long as you are a young professional, don't drink, don't smoke, are unattached, do not entertain guests, have no pets, no car, no visible tattoos or piercings, wear business attire at all times, are willing to sign a contract that demands your first born, are willing to live in a wardrobe, pay the equivalent of the GDP of Nigeria in rent plus 6 months deposit, conduct a lengthy lie-detector interview with the CIA and MI6 you are absolutely free to rent anything you wish.
You will simply then have to furnish your passport, bank statements, proof of the last 5 addresses, references from your last 5 employers, after that your HR manager will have to be available for a quick half-day interview and you're good!

davo10

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Renting in Ireland is absolutely equal and open to anyone, that is enshrined in law. As long as you are a young professional, don't drink, don't smoke, are unattached, do not entertain guests, have no pets, no car, no visible tattoos or piercings, wear business attire at all times, are willing to sign a contract that demands your first born, are willing to live in a wardrobe, pay the equivalent of the GDP of Nigeria in rent plus 6 months deposit, conduct a lengthy lie-detector interview with the CIA and MI6 you are absolutely free to rent anything you wish.
You will simply then have to furnish your passport, bank statements, proof of the last 5 addresses, references from your last 5 employers, after that your HR manager will have to be available for a quick half-day interview and you're good!

Wouldn't it be great if Landlords could insist on all those things, it would weed out the tenants who don't pay their rent, over hold, wreck the property, hold parties that upset neighbours etc.

4ensic15

Grolschevik wrote: »

And An Bord Pleanala just rejected a proposal to covert a building opposite Pearse St Garda station into dedicated student accommodation...

That was nearly 2 months ago. It was for the demolition of the building and the building of a 7 storey block. There was no question of converting the building.

An Taisce claimed that the scheme as proposed “would constitute a disorderly, incoherent form of development with an overscaled building disrupting the scale and balance of the street and adversely affecting the adjacent historic college campus in an important Conservation Area”.

The appeals board said that due to the scale, mass and height of the proposed development, it considered it would represent overdevelopment, be overbearing and visually obtrusive.

Grolschevik

But it was still to be student accommodation, though, yeah?

4ensic15

Grolschevik wrote: »

But it was still to be student accommodation, though, yeah?

They will put in a new application so it will eventually be student accommodation. It was not blocked on account of the fact that it was intended as student accommodation and the fact of it being blocked was not a manifestation of an anti student bias.

Grolschevik

4ensic15 wrote:

They will put in a new application so it will eventually be student accommodation. It was not blocked on account of the fact that it was intended as student accommodation and the fact of it being blocked was not a manifestation of an anti student bias.

Never occurred to me that it was. Just mentioned it in the context of the student market as a whole.

imitation

Mr.S wrote: »

And that is everything wrong with the Irish rental market in one short post.

Jaysus, what will be next ? Tin shack slums ?500 euro a month, need to provide your own oil drum to burn waste in for heat.

BrokenArrows

Everyone complains about landlords discriminating but at the end of the day getting an apartment is like getting a job.
Employers are not going to hire someone who is likely to cause them problems and Landlords approach their tenants in the same way.

And if we're all honest about ourselves when we were students we had constant late night parties, we're not the cleanest of people, didn't really look after the place we lived. Or maybe it was just me.

Student accommodation is furnished with cheap furniture for a reason. So it can be cheaply replaced when the students wreck the place.

If a landlord makes the wrong choice about their tenant then it can cost them a small fortune. Losing out on a few months rent due to tenants not paying, or skipping out on the lease, legal costs of trying to recover money, gap between a tenant leaving unexpectedly and finding a new tenant.

I could move into an apartment now and not pay rent from day 1 and it would take the landlord months to remove me legally.

athtrasna

Mod note 4ensic15 and Grolshevic I've deleted your latest posts on this thread. Please reacquaint yourselves with the forum charter before posting again. Thanks