Una Mullally: Lack of basic rights creates new rules for renters

Nearly 20 per cent of Ireland’s population rents privately, and in Dublin, it’s a quarter of the city’s population. These figures are the highest since records began.

How long will this drum have to be beaten before radical change happens? How loudly do people have to demand things that are basic in other countries such as rent control, long-term leases, quality rental housing, and fair prices? At what point will the cost of a property’s rent be linked to its size per square metre, instead of monthly rent figures seemingly plucked out of thin air by landlords?

In the absence of these basic rights the rental crisis has created new rules for renters. One of these rules is for renters to pretend they’re invisible. The most simple of requests, such as fixing something that has broken in a property through general wear and tear, is now shrouded in fear.

I’ve spoken to friends who, rather than alert the landlord to their existence, take the hit themselves for repairing something in the property. Others simply deal with substandard accommodation rather than make the dreaded call to a landlord asking for something to be fixed.

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Don't rock the boat, don't cause hassle, don't ask for anything, as any sudden movement might be seen as cause for eviction

Don’t rock the boat, don’t cause hassle, don’t ask for anything, as any sudden movement might be seen as cause for eviction or as an opportunity for the landlord to jack up the rent, or get someone else in at higher rent.

Are these fears unfounded? Apparently not. Tales abound of landlords giving tenants notice because they want to sell the property, or renovate it, or move a family member in. Do tenants have any follow up to check if these intentions are true? No.

Best not to draw attention to yourself. Pay a premium, and if anything goes wrong, suck it up.

Another new rule is for renters to negotiate living in places they never thought they’d find themselves living in. People with decent jobs are left trawling Daft.ie and viewing kips of flats they would never have considered living in even as a broke student. Living in small, or poorly built, or badly designed, or rundown spaces affects your mental health and sense of self-worth.

Live on their own

Another new rule is the extension of the flatmate class. Many people – who in other cities around Europe would be able to afford to live on their own are forced into housesharing well into their thirties and forties. The feeling of not being able to see the end of one’s state as a housemate grinds you down.

In order to make a generation feel better about this, property companies that propagate the idea of “co-living” as something cool and attractive are growing, when often, the constant cycle of living with people can be stressful and typified by tensions and a lack of personal space and privacy.

There comes a point when you just don’t want to be a flatmate anymore, but the realities of our rental market won’t allow you not to be one.

Another new rule is a sort of demarcation of one’s peer group regarding getting out of the private rental sector. I think many people who can’t afford to buy are at a loss – sometimes even suspicious – when their friends can seemingly get on the property ladder, especially if they have taken a similar path in life and are on similar incomes.

Landlords are also leaving the market in large numbers, which also reduces the number of properties for rent

Your pal being able to buy a place when you can’t instills a feeling of failure. Inevitably, the realisation dawns that their parents helped them out. For a large number of people, it’s not about the choices they make in their lives that dictate whether or not they can buy a home, but the financial wealth of parents.

Another rule is dealing with the end of disposable income. If you are paying €200 or €400 or €800 a month more in rent than you were a year or two ago, that money is not being spent elsewhere.

Disposable income

It’s not being spent in restaurants or bars or on taxis or gigs or in clothes shops or on holidays. It’s going on rent. The rental crisis has a vice-like grip on people’s disposable income. The one restaurant meal a week becomes one restaurant meal a month. The few pints in the local becomes a bottle of wine at home.

These things don’t seem significant on an individual basis, but when thousands of people have less to spend, the impact starts showing. Wages are certainly not increasing at the same level the cost of renting is. This will continue to have an impact on the broader economy.

We hear a lot about the hardship buy-to-let landlords or “accidental” landlords have. But renters are obviously in a tougher position than landlords right now. It’s also worth noting that more than 61 per cent of Ireland’s private rental stock is owned outright by investors.

These are not landlords struggling to pay the mortgage on a property they have rented out.

That said, landlords are also leaving the market in large numbers, which also reduces the number of properties for rent. The market is in a state of dysfunction. House prices are stagnating in Dublin, and there is a sense that many people are cashing out while they can.

For example, at the time of writing, there are 10 times the number of properties for sale in Stoneybatter (about 40) than there are for rent (four). The new rules have become the new normal. But this is not normal.