Searching for student rental accommodation can be challenging at the best of times, but during a rent and housing crisis, those pressures can feel even more intense.
As students eagerly await CAO first round offers next week, all eyes will be on the accommodation options available to them should they be lucky enough to secure their preferred course.
For incoming first years, the short amount of time between college offers and the new semester can put them on the back foot. On-campus accommodation can be both expensive and difficult to secure, depending on the college a student is attending.
“You would be very, very lucky if, at the end of August, you get good news from UCD accommodation,” says UCD Students Union campaigns officer, Tom Conway. “It can happen, but you’re very, very lucky if that happens.”
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Conway knows first-hand the difficulties of sourcing suitable accommodation. Having commuted from Meath to UCD in first year, he eventually moved in with a friend’s father for the next two years.
“I was paying rent the entire time. While I was there, I always joked that those were the worst two years of my degree because I had to work two jobs to pay rent. I was completely behind on studies. And then eventually it got to a point where I said, ‘Look, this is just getting too expensive. It’s getting too much. I’m going to have to move back home to Meath.’ So I commuted for the last year of my degree and went back to the hour and a half commute to UCD.”
In his student union role, he has had many students get in touch saying that something needs to be done immediately about the accommodation crisis.
“There’s almost two types of students that are emerging – those who are either lucky enough to live there or be able to rent in the area, and students who have to commute very long distances.” The impact on student life is significant. Conway has friends commuting “from very southern Wexford to UCD every day”.
“That affects every aspect of your college life, not just academics. It’s your social life, romantic interests, everything in between. The social contract of what it means to be a young person and a student in Ireland is just getting decimated at the moment.”
For students who do find accommodation, Conway says they’re often not familiar with their rights as renters. “There’s so many examples of them getting taken advantage of and ripped off. There’s a particular example we had two weeks ago where a student had moved into their accommodation and there was faecal matter left on a bed when they walked in. The most common one we find, though, is rodents, and they call us, the students union, because they don’t know who else to contact.”
Charlene Grehan, deputy president for Galway in the newly amalgamated ATU (Atlantic Technological University) Students’ Union, says the students in Galway are really struggling as the technological university has no purpose-built accommodation. “We’ve expectancies of 1,500 students starting with us in ATU with no student purpose-built accommodation, so we are heavily depending on digs and other people letting students into their homes.”
In an effort to support students, ATU has developed an online student platform called “rent a room”. “You can actually go on and look for houses across all our ATUs, Ireland-wide. So that’s been a bit helpful. We’ll actually check out that accommodation before it goes up. [We’ll] make sure it’s in the right rent cap; that no one’s taking advantage of the students. And if we’ve heard of a landlord taking advantage of students, we’ll blacklist them. And they won’t be allowed on our service again.”
Grehan is aware of attempts to exploit desperate students seeking accommodation. “There was one house in Galway owned by a landlord, and there was 17 International students in it.”
It can be particularly challenging for first years moving to a new area, Grehan says. As “they don’t really know anyone as well. They are at a disadvantage of getting outpriced.”
The difficulties finding accommodation are to such an extent now that Grehan believes the college may have to take action, such as putting the courses online.
How can a student maximise their chances of finding suitable accommodation?
“The best way to get the lay of the land in any college town or city is to talk to existing students,” Irish Times property journalist Jessica Doyle says, recommending that students reach out to “anyone you might know (or kind of know) who studies there, be that someone who was in advance of you at school, someone from your football club, a friend’s cousin – whoever. Ask them if they know of any rooms going in September, and, if not, ask if they could point you in the right direction of areas to look at.”
“It’s also important to be open-minded,” she says. “You may have imagined living in college dorms or in houses full of students, but with such high demand and eye-watering costs, it may not be possible in your first year. It may be worth looking into digs for the first year, for example, and you will still meet people through classes and societies at college. You can then team up and find something for your subsequent years as other students move on.”
For those living a distance from where they intend to study, Doyle recommends trying “to arrange viewings for a few places on the same day so you can go and see them in person. It’s important to interrupt summer-long trips, or to take a day off from your summer job to visit a place where you’re going to live for at least a year. It will also give you much more peace of mind in advance of September.”
“Don’t be taken in by a fresh lick of paint and a few Ikea cushions thrown on the couch to make it feel homely,” she says. “All the aesthetic stuff, you can fix later. What you really need to check are the important things – appliances, heating system, water pressure, the quality of the windows and laundry facilities.
“Does the oven work? Is the washing machine in decent nick? There is only so long you can get away with carting a gear bag of dirty clothes back to your parents on the weekends. Is there somewhere you can dry your clothes properly? Is there a draft coming in through the windows?”
With student union representatives sharing horror stories aplenty of substandard accommodation, Doyle says to “keep a keen eye out for mould in the corners on the ceilings. Even if painted over, the telltale splotches remain. And remember, if the place smells weird, that will become your weird smell.”
It’s important to familiarise yourself with the area, the distance from campus and essential facilities such as supermarkets and transport links, she says.
Once you have found a place, “meet the landlord or letting agency in person to sign the lease. If you sign a hard copy, make sure to take a photo of it and email it to yourself and your parents for backup,” Doyle says.
For advice on spotting rental scams and staying safe during your rental search, visit the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
