Renting to students?

lightspeed

Hi

I'm looking at buying an investment property for rental. I have been thinking of a property in Galway City aimed at Airbnb for summer months and then rent property over the academic year to students. So these would be Erasmus and students attending Galway University.

I realise there are some risks but just wondering has anybody rented to students much and what was your experience?

I live in Dublin which is a further negative to this idea. I contacted a company called quick Galway as I think they seem to offer hosting of students, and any maintenance issues as they arise but no idea of what they charge.

Im thinking I would ask for references, take deposits and make it clear that they will kicked out sharply if they violate the rules e.g parties, loud music, violence , cause property damage etc.

HeidiHeidi

I don't think there's any such thing as

make it clear that they will kicked out sharply

any more. There are stringent rules for evictions, and even if they're all complied with you could still be faced with a long battle to get tenants out.

I would imagine that the potential for damage/shenanigans/complaints would be much higher with students (very broad stereotyping there, I'm well aware) than with say a couple who are more invested in the property as their actual home.

However in the event of you needing to terminate the tenancy for whatever reason, at least students are more likely to leave at the end of the academic year whereas the risk of overholding with other tenants who cannot find another rental is huge these days.

Weigh up the risk/reward carefully, and make sure you're clear on all the rules that govern being a landlord, and go into it with your eyes open.

Ray Palmer

Pretty sure you need planning permission to use the property for AirBnB which you won't get. Along with the fact tenants have rights after 6months so you can't kick them out. I get what you are thinking but it isn't legal

lightspeed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123474421#Comment_123474421

I think the planning permission requirement for airbnb is only for if you are renting it out for more than 90 days.

I would not have thought the 6 month thing would not be applicable where it's only fixed term agreement for the academic period but open to correction if you have seen it enforced or legislated.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123475822#Comment_123475822

nope only 90 days on your private home. Fixed term agreements mean nothing due to rental rules.

arctictree

Lots of full property airbnbs around here and I doubt if any of them have planning permission...

SupaCat95

Hi OP,

I think you are living in the 1990's. The stuff you could get away with back then is not what you can get away with today. You cannot kick a person out with a couple of days notice no matter what they do. There is Citizens Information, Threshold, RTB, internet advice, better informed public, students unions…… Students (no matter what they do will stand their ground, they are not threatened by phone calls home) have nowhere else to go and it could end up quite litigious.

I also dont think you can manage a place in Galway with the mix of students and tourists from a Dublin base. I had a mate who had a buy to let rented as a house share and it was twice as much work for 20% more money. A family or a group of solid friends will not screw each other over (running out on bills and such). I think you would be better off with a solid family unit long term. Students are messy creatures who are not yet house broken and not aware of what they can and cannot do socially in the real world. For what you want to do, you would have to be sitting on top of the house almost.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123475904#Comment_123475904

How much money would you be willing to gamble they won't crack down on this? Buying a property is risky enough without adding to the risk

lightspeed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123477017#Comment_123477017

Yeah I'm having doubts on this idea or airbnb being viable Long term.

According to citizens advice from May 26 you need to be registered with Failte Ireland. To so you need a registration number from the local council. To get that you will need to get planning permission even for the 90 days use unless it is your PPR. If it is your principal private residence you still need to register with your local county council. There will be fines on airbnb etc if your licence number is not listed so this will be enforced at some point.

Personally I don't think these changes will be better for tourists or airbnb hosts. Will be great for hotels just like elsewhere like New York for example where they enforced a crackdown on Airbnb.

arctictree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123477650#Comment_123477650

From looking at the Failte Ireland website, it looks like you will not need any documentation from the council regarding planning.

https://www.failteireland.ie/registration-and-grading/short-term-letting-register/faqs.aspx

They stress that they have no role in planning and the planning laws will stay as they are and enforcement is by the council only. So it seems to be that not much will change. Anyone will be able to get a Failte Ireland registration number if they are letting out their property short term.

lightspeed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123477968#Comment_123477968

"Local Authorities will also have access to the Fáilte Ireland Short Term Letting Register for properties in their area, where they can check relevant properties. If a property is found to be non-compliant with statutory planning requirements, the Local Authority may notify Fáilte Ireland who will suspend the validity of the registration number of that property".

I don't think there will be any getting away with much longer as at some point the local authorities are going to have to defend why they not taking any action against those that don't have a valid registration number. Airbnb will be getting hit with fines if allowing properties to register with a license/registration number.

GalwayGaillimh

Theres alot of Airbnbs in Galway City that would have being operation over 7 years so they wont need planning due to the 7 year rule…what would happen if an Airbnb applies for planning can they operate whilst awaiting the planning decision? If they get turned down by the planning department and they appeal it to An Bord Pleanala can they still operate whilst awaiting the decision? If so they would have a good 2 years before An Bord Pleanala make a decision…they are as slow as Xmas…

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/08/02/frank-mcdonald-it-may-soon-be-too-late-to-do-anything-about-some-airbnb-lets/