Council rent not being paid

Richard571

I’m glad to see the council taking action but why is this tolerated.

The weekly payment should be taken directly from benefits / salary from the start to prevent arrears and save a fortune in resources and legal fees.

These are heavily subsidised in the most expensive area of the country….no excuse.

Council to take legal action against 22 tenants who owe more than €20,000 in rent arrears

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/council-to-take-legal-action-against-22-tenants-who-owe-more-than-20000-in-rent-arrears-41748533.html

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058250099/council-rent-not-being-paid

but why is this tolerated.

Because we are a soft touch country where the government is financially mothering a certain sector of the population. Whilst they are busy with that financial mothering, the people being mothered have a big smile on their face - as they know perfectly well what they can get away with.

They know the rules better than the rule makers, and they exploit that weakness accordingly.

Until this country fosters a hard-line approach in terms of personal responsibility, instead of constantly providing the opportunities for financial cushions and excuses, problems like this will continue to grow.

Jinglejangle69

The usual army will be along to make excuses no doubt.

DCC in 50 million ten arrears.

Imagine the uproar from the opposition of one of these are evicted.

Gant21

Disgraceful carry on, it’s ok here though.

Spanish Eyes

Nothing will be done. They will have to be housed somewhere. SF and the likes will fight their cause and Harry Potter will speak for them and their awful financial situation that led to this, or addiction, or the horses, or whatever. The bailiffs might be needed and you can just see the rent a mob out to prevent that happening. Anyway, judging by the amount of time it takes for a private landlord to evict or even be paid arrears, this issue will go to the bottom of the agenda for quite a while, but it's good publicity for the Council to show they are "doing" something.

Gant21

Impossible to evict a council house tenant, sorry social house tenant.

The same people who "can't" pay rent in the private market also struggle to do so when the amount is drastically reduced. Almost like there's a different issue around responsibility and taking care of oneself but that's not for this country.

francois

A whole 22 tenants, **** me Ireland in trouble

Richard571

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198463#Comment_119198463

To be fair this is just the crowd owing over €20k. That’s 363 weeks or 7 years worth of rent payment!

56% of tenants are in arrears - this shows it endemic.

standardg60

Sure why should anyone pay when everyone has a right to a roof over their head here, which is what most of the electorate think.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198510#Comment_119198510

Exactly the kind of mentality and attitude that leads to an elevated social welfare state, and a total lack of personal responsibility among a certain % of the "electorate".

zell12

What does this mean?

a section of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 which allows rent due to local authorities to be deducted directly from social welfare payments had not yet been commenced.

https://www.thejournal.ie/dublin-city-council-5-4956180-Jan2020/

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198536#Comment_119198536

Exactly, but given homelessness was top of the agenda prior to the last election, it seems that the majority of people are oblivious to the consequences that actually brings.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198550#Comment_119198550

It means that to put the law into practice, the Minister has to sign it off.

I suspect it's to do with operational readiness: the government have said it's OK to do, but the departments need to have the mechanisms in to place to actually do it correctly, including dealing with the inevitable mistakes when people move, their benefits decreases and they forget to change the rent-deduction, etc.

Northernlily

Average payment of €55 a week. As I work to save for a mortgage and pay €2k a month in rent.

Really am questioning everything. Why even bother.

10% of income!!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198762#Comment_119198762

Jesus......2K a month......thats exactly 2/3 of my nett pay......... thankfully, I'm into the last 3/4 years of mortgage.....but I got three daughters ( all working thankfully) late 20's. When I see figures like this I genuinely do despair for them as regards ever achieving home ownership. Can't say I'm surprised you are " questioning everything".

howiya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119198439#Comment_119198439

SF aren't in government. This has happened under the watch of parties who have been in government. I do however suspect you are right that SF would probably speak up for these people. I just don't get the "but but SF". There's a bill sitting waiting since 2014 to be enacted by the Minister. FG were in government then and still are.

I'm a private tenant, soon to be a homeowner (hopefully). I support social housing because for a multitude of reasons there will be people who can't afford to buy or pay market rent. I don't really care how cheap their rent is either but what annoys me is 1) the don't/won't pay attitude and 2) the lack of enforcement by the state.

Coincidentally today is our rent day. We've a direct debit to our landlord. No decision or thought process about whether to pay or not. Rent is due. It gets paid. Basic financial management.

Gyms, Netflix etc are able to get people to provide bank or card details for recurring payments. You'd expect a local authority to be able to do same. Again basic financial management.

I'd be sceptical as to the outcome of these cases but hopefully they signal a change in attitude from those in charge.