Cork senator warns that students more vulnerable to rental sector changes

Students will be especially vulnerable under changes proposed for the private rental sector, Cork representatives have said.

It comes as housing Minister James Browne said this week that a special protection for student tenants in the private market would be “unworkable” and “unenforceable”, which opposition politicians have called a “u-turn”.

Labour’s further and higher education spokesperson Senator Laura Harmon told The Echo: “Only last week, the Minister for Housing assured students that protections would be in place under the new RPZ rules. Now students who sign a new lease each year could face huge rent hikes. This is utter chaos and shows how little thought has gone into these reforms.

“Students are already under huge financial pressure. They are now looking at the real risk of rent jumps every September if they need to move or sign a new lease. It is unacceptable that the Government would allow this to happen.” 

Ms Harmon continued: “It is now mid-June — every year we hear promises that the student housing crisis will be tackled, yet every August and September, we see students forced into overcrowded, poor-quality accommodation or pushed into exhausting daily commutes.

“This fiasco makes it crystal clear that we need more purpose-built student accommodation. 

"We cannot keep relying on the private rental sector to house students. Students should not have to choose between a long, draining commute, paying sky-high rents, or dropping out of college altogether.” Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice raised the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday, saying: “What we hear constantly from the Government is that we have turned a corner. Honestly, it has turned so many corners now, it is going round in circles.

“The Minister has fundamentally got the new rent rules wrong. Students, who are going to change tendencies every year, are going to have their rents reset to market levels. Every single year, students are going to face record high rents.

“There will be increases year after year. A student attending college for four years in Cork who moves their tenancy every year will get a huge jump in their rent.

“I do not think the Minister has thought this through. I do not think he has thought through that students, young people and people who move for work will get their rent reset every single year.” 

Alex Angland of the UCC student’s union president, told The Echo: “The current proposal provides minimal protection for new tenants. Due to the nature of the student rental market, where leases typically only last 9 months, this change would adversely affect student renters, leaving them open to annual rent increases.

“Once again, students have once again been left out of the thought process entirely. Although not a perfect solution, Rent Pressure Zones are one of the few things offering meaningful protection to students in this rental market.” A government spokesperson told The Echo: “The Minister is actively engaging with the Office of the Attorney General and the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science as part of the drafting of legislation on the tailored arrangements to apply to SSA.”