Students have preference for on-campus accommodation

With mounting costs and shortages of housing in the private rented sector, on-campus accommodation is possibly the best choice for most students. The student population would seem to agree, because at this stage all on-campus places in Dublin, Cork and Maynooth are gone, with just a minimum left in Limerick and Galway, largely due to new building.

The competition for on-campus is so fierce that students, relieved to have secured a place, may not consider the implications of living on-campus and are often unaware of what they're buying into.

Living on-campus is not the same as renting a flat, in many ways it's better - you are guaranteed a certain standard of accommodation, your rent is paid in two lump sums so you don't have to budget, and you live just a stone's throw from your lectures.

The price to pay for this comfort and security is that you are not a tenant, you are a licensee, and this means you are you are not protected by the tenancy rights which those in the private rented sector enjoy.

The Union of Student of Ireland (USI) has opposed this situation for a number of years. This year however, on foot of the summer's Bacon report, the union feels it may have the opportunity to effect real change and is currently preparing a draft bill of rights for on-campus accommodation which it proposes to bring before the Minister for Environment this autumn.

"We know we won't get full tenants rights," says Alison Gibney USI welfare officer Alison Gibney. "What we're asking for is a minimum bill of rights which would cover notice to quit and a right to privacy." The bill is still at the preparatory stages, but will include the following terms:

1. A minimum notice to quit of 28 days.

2. A right to privacy, which would include adequate notice to inspect the accommodation.

3. The establishment of an appeals procedure, which would allow for student union representation.

Gibney says that basic tenant's rights are not respected in most on-campus residences. "Students get no respect as tenants. Instead they are treated as unwanted guests in their own homes." She says that a bill of rights must be introduced this year. "With so much student purpose accommodation being built and more planned, there is a need for a uniform tenants rights document to cover all colleges."

Currently all on-campus residences operate some form of licensing agreement. In some colleges it's called a licence to reside; in others it's an occupancy licence, but in all you must sign the document to get the campus place. When you sign you must abide by its regulations if you are to remain on-campus. The companies building student-purpose accommodation are entitled to introduce any stipulations to their agreement as they deem appropriate. They will be at liberty to decide whether students can have overnight guests or if they will have a week or a day or a month's notice to quit.

Clodagh Memery of Threshold says she is well aware of the problems with licensing agreements. "The clauses in licensing agreements are often dictatorial," she said. While Memery concedes that not all of the recommendations of the Bacon report would be suitable for students she says that a greater level of security of tenure would seem reasonable, as would the tightening up of privacy rights. "The USI proposal would seem to be a sensible way forward."

Labour housing spokesman Eamon Gilmore also supports the USI campaign. "There is no reason why the same general rules shouldn't apply to oncampus accommodation as apply in all other accommodation. If a tenant complies with normal usage they should have full and free use of the accommodation."

UCD students union president Eamon O Lionain says the new bill would bring particular relief to the students on campus at UCD. "Students are treated like children. It's an unfair system that is perceived to be enforced even more unfairly." O Lionain says the overnight guest policy is particularly strict.

"No guests are allowed after 10 p.m. The UCD campuses are policed by residential assistants (UCD students themselves). Under the licensing agreement these people can enter an apartment at anytime and if they see fit eject whoever they find there," he says. The penalty for breaking these regulations is eviction with seven day's notice.

Tony Nichols, the administrator of the students residences in UCD firmly believes that no legislation will be introduced to change the way campus residences are run.

"These apartments are all owned by different companies. They have rights and there is no way that the government will concede against the constitutional rights of companies." Nichols considers the USI mandate to be a tired refrain. "This is not the first time this has been called for. Every year there is a new crowd in USI and so every year we get this demand."

Nichols says the rules stipulated in the licensing agreements are necessary to protect students and do not represent an infringement of their rights. "When one student is misbehaving, the others in the house are suffering," says Nichols. "If they had tenants rights there would be nothing to stop them causing havoc, but if they break the licence to reside, they don't have a leg to stand on."

Corrib Village, the student accommodation of UCG operates a 24-hour notice to quit, although Rebecca Lydon the Corrib Village student officer says they have never had to enforce it. "We have an awful lot of second and third years returning to our apartments so they must not consider our rules too restrictive."

UCG student union president Paddy Jordan feels the essential problem with the Corrib Village licensing agreement is the "lack of mutuality" in the arrangement between the college authorities and the student. "If the college wants someone to leave, they can make them go immediately but if a student cannot leave the on-campus accommodation until the end of the contract," he says. "There should be some level of equality."

Jordan says that last year eight people left Corrib Village in the first semester but fees for the entire college year were demanded."

He says that there have also been difficulties in the past with the notice to inspect having been violated by the management. He conceded that there had been an improvement in the situation since last year, but said the authorities still had the power to "barge in" at any time if they deemed it necessary.

The UL student accommodation at Plassey and Kilmurry Village operates a code of conduct and would seem to rely more on a system of arbitration between students and the campus authorities. Guest however must still leave the premises by 11 p.m. Although they may stay overnight with the prior approval of the college authorities.

Tom O'Dunavan, education officer of the UL students union says that he has encountered few serious complaints about the student villages but he says this is most likely because students are treated so badly in the private rented sector. "At least in on-campus there is some sort of comeback." However he says he is "100 per cent" behind USI.

Director of student services Barry Keogh says there would be difficulties in adopting a tenancy agreement. "If a student refused to leave the accommodation it could take up to six months to evict." However, Keogh says that he would support the introduction if a bill of rights for students. "Our practice would be to respect rights as well as obligations," he says.

The DCU occupancy licence stipulates that all guest must leave by midnight and the notice to quit is 24 hours. TCD welfare officer Karen Griffin says she finds the attitude of the campus authorities "a bit patronising" considering the amount students pay for their rooms she also said the way rooms are allocated needed to be more transparent. However Trinity does allow overnight guests as long as the occupant signs them in.