New rules will hit student homes

THE availability of rented housing for students could be affected by the new housing legislation which came into effect this month, according to representatives of both property owners and auctioneers.

According to Alan Cooke, chief executive of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, one of the dangers of the new legislation is that new costs and increasingly cumbersome regulations could lead to further reductions in the stock of cheaper rented accommodation, the type of multi unit accommodation most sought after by students and which is now increasingly returning to single residential use.

"There is a growing trend in this area and this will only accelerate it," said Cooke. "We're looking here at flatland, affordable accommodation for many people who couldn't afford £400 per month for an apartment but could afford £40-£50 per week for good, clean accommodation. The problem we have is that the people the Minister set out to help are going to suffer."

At least 2,000 units in the Rathmines/Dublin 6 area have returned to private use in the last 12 months, according to Fintan McNamara of the Irish Property Owners' Association, and the current legislation is likely to speed up this process of "gentrification". "Those small single bedsits for around £30 per week, which students tend to take, will disappear," he said.

USI has also criticised the effectiveness of the new rented housing legislation which came into effect this month, describing it as merely duplicating existing regulations while doing nothing to ensure higher standards of accommodation.

"It is difficult to see the effectiveness of this particular piece of legislation," said USI welfare officer Noeleen Hartigan.

According to the Housing (Registration of Rented Houses) Regulations Act 1996, landlords in the private rented sector must register all publicly available accommodation in their possession, including the name of the landlord and address of the house, a description of the type of accommodation available, the name of the tenant and the rent payable and manner of payment. Each unit is also subject to a registration fee of £40 and an annual fee of £40 thereafter.

The details provided by landlords will be held on a register in the relevant local authority office, although only the name and address of the house and the date of registration will be publicly available.

Both the IAVI and the IPOA have criticised some of the information being requested, citing possible security risks for tenants and landlords, and the level of the charge, on the basis that there would be no guaranteed inspection by local authorities in return for the £40, although both stressed they had no objection to registration per se.

"Our main criticism is that we will have a publicly available register but that doesn't mean that any of the accommodation on the register will measure up to 1992 or 1993 standards," said Noeleen Hartigan. USI also fears that the cost of registering accommodation could be passed on to students in the form of higher deposits. "Another problem is that landlords registering, say, 100 units - which would cost £4,000 per annum - are less likely to make necessary refurbishments," she said.