With the eviction ban officially ending at the beginning of April, The Irish Times asked readers to get in touch with their experiences of the rental market, from renters fearful of their position to landlords who are looking to sell.
Below is a range of submissions received, from tenants and landlords, describing their situation as the moratorium ends.
Tenants
‘It feels like the walls are closing in on me’
I am a professional in my early 30s and a few years ago a good friend of mine bought a house and offered to let me live there in the spare room for just the cost of the bills, so I could save for my own house. What a man, what an opportunity! I save and save and save. I do very little other than save. I saved more money than I could have ever hoped, more money than my parents have ever seen in their lives. But it’s not enough. The more money that piles in the bank, the higher the house prices climb and the larger the deposit. It feels like the harder I work the further away I get from my goal.
December 2022 my friend let me know he was thinking of July as a deadline for me to move on. I thought that’s great, so much time. I did begin looking straight away and found ... nothing available to rent. Yesterday I went to view a studio on the side of a family home. It was spacious and bright and gorgeous and €1,200. Then the landlord says: “Oh, the only thing is that if we have parties we might ask guests to pop in and use your bathroom. And we use this washing machine, so we will just come in once or twice a week to do our laundry.”
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How can they stand there with their hands out for €1,200, cash in hand and say they are going to casually walk into my living space whenever they want? And let strangers use my bathroom? I lie awake at night and cry, every night. I don’t know what to do. It feels like the walls are closing in around me. 📌 Co Wicklow
‘Where I go, I have no idea’
Received termination notice end of February. I am still waiting for the RTB to confirm they received from the landlord the notice, which landlords are obliged to send the same day as tenant gets it. Assuming notice is valid, I have to be out at the end of August. I pay almost €1,800 a month. I am single income so would never get the mortgage needed to buy. Where I go I have no idea, but very likely out of the city I have lived in for 30 years. It’s a great time to sell, I have no issue with the landlord selling. What I have an issue with is why consecutive governments did not see this coming. 📌 Co Dublin
‘They asked us would we mind moving out for six weeks’
We haven’t been given an eviction notice yet but two very unnerving things happened this week from our landlords who live abroad. They asked us would we mind moving out for six weeks in May because they are coming home for a holiday and are finding it hard to find accommodation….. we said politely, no. They want a rent review, which is absolutely fair as we have lived here for two years but unfortunately they are looking for a rent increase of more than 70 per cent. From €875 to €1,500. We are building a home, have one year left that we are hoping to be out by into our new home but we fear that if we contest this massive rent increase, they will serve us an eviction notice and we will have no where to stay for the duration of our build, not to mention with our children. ... To say we are stressed is an understatement! 📌 Co Mayo
[ The strange saga of Fr Peter McVerry’s eviction ban claimOpens in new window ]
Landlords
‘The lower the rent, the more damage the tenant does’
I am a landlord in Dublin. I lost €130,000 last year in rent arrears and associated costs. I lost a similar amount in turnaround costs after bad tenants. One family didn’t clean the floor since going into the house two years previously and their feet scored the commercial-grade laminate with the grit they refused to sweep up. Walls painted by kids and totally filthy from ridiculously careless wear and tear. Wardrobes I’d fitted newly two years previously along with all furniture had to be dumped.
[In my experience] the lower the rent the more damage the tenant does to the rented property. High rent, from respectable workers, gets better treatment of the property by the tenant.
The cost structure [of being a landlord] has received no attention from Government or the opposition. So accidental landlords find it necessary to sell. The system has created a business environment for landlords that leaves no room for kindness or flexibility. This is probably one of the biggest motivations that I have to sell up.
I used to rent to students who could work part-time. I enjoyed the interaction with these working students – their love of life, their eagerness to advance, their hunger for good-humoured enjoyment. Now it’s paperwork, RTB cases, antisocial behaviour and general mayhem. The crazy costs have eliminated profit and threatened long-term financial stability. And the 2 per cent rent cap is a joke in a business where some costs have jumped 50 per cent. Until the cost structure is addressed and the rent cap lifted, until the cost of finance is addressed and until the regulations become more landlord friendly I believe the landlords will continue to sell. It is the only way out. 📌 Dublin
‘I am no longer in control of my property’
I have a one bed property in Galway city. Rent low, tenant lovely, but with current restrictions I feel I am no longer in control of my property. Prospect of tenant being allowed to stay indefinitely, only being able to sell with tenant in situ, not being able to use for family when needed, Government interference in private matters. I will now give notice to quit. 📌 Galway
‘People should be able to live in their own apartments’
For me and my family we are very happy that the eviction ban has been lifted. Now we can give notice to our tenants to leave our home and can move back to Ireland. There are also many landlords who have had big interest rate rises over the past year and are forced to let their properties to tenants at below-market rents because of the Rent Pressure Zone legislation. People should be able to sell their own apartments or move into and live in their own apartments. When I read the continuous stream of commentary about people arguing that it is reasonable to tell people that they cannot live in their own houses, that they cannot sell private property that they own, that they cannot charge market rates of rent but must subsidise – often very well paid and upwardly mobile professional – tenants’ lifestyles, it really makes me wonder at how far left the political pendulum has swung in Ireland and whether moving back from the USA is the right thing to do at all. 📌 United States
‘People like me exist. We are not greedy. We are not rich’
The populist squawking from political parties like Sinn Féin is scary and astonishing. It is cruel and unrealistic. There are landlords who rented out their one and only property when they moved abroad. It was never intended to be a permanent measure. Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats and the other Opposition parties have no compassion for any human story where a person rented out their former marital home for a myriad of reasons. People like me exist. We are not greedy. We are not rich. We are not entitled. We want our own homes back. I’d like to see [Sinn Féin leader] Mary Lou McDonald tell my dependent children that they can’t live in their own home. May Lou is detached from the financial circumstances many landlords find themselves in. I am not responsible for the housing crisis. I was not responsible for the financial crisis a decade or so ago either. But, in the echo chamber of the Opposition parties, I should be impoverished, and locked out of my own property – a property bought at the height of the Celtic Tiger property boom. I should be locked out of Ireland – not just my own home. There are others of my generation who moved abroad and rent their housing. In the land of the opposition, none of those people ought to be allowed to return. 👤 Jane
‘Renting property has turned into Russian roulette’
I rent out an apartment to two lovely tenants. So far, I feel lucky to have found decent tenants and am happy to continue letting to them, although I feel this is a risky move as at any moment the rules could change and I could find myself in a position where I have lost any rights to a property I have worked hard to buy. If my tenants decided to leave, I will sell up but for now, I won’t serve them notice. I feel renting property has turned into a game of Russian roulette. The rules are constantly changing, and there is no stability or predictability as to what might happen next. Even if the Government introduced better tax measures, I wouldn’t stay in the market as the next general election will see a Sinn Féin government who will just tear up the rule book and it won’t be with landlords in mind. 👤 Anonymous
‘The biggest mistake we made was getting involved in residential property’
I bought eight properties over 20 years ago as a pension investment for my wife and me. We are both 74 now. Paid €3.25 million. Now worth €2 million max. All in zoned areas restricted rent increases to 4 per cent every 2 years. Loads of issues with tenants wrecking property and not paying rent. Residential Tenancies Board no help to us. We are taxed at 52 per cent on any net profits which is crippling us normally anyway. We are afraid if the Shinners get into power they will prohibit us from disposing of our properties. We are in the process of informing all the tenants of our decision to sell. Hopefully we will get €2 million for the properties and clear the balance owed [the lender]. The biggest mistake we made was getting involved in the residential property market. We are demonised by everyone and it’s unfair in my view. We were and still are very responsible landlords and will continue to be till we rid ourselves of this nightmare. 👤 Jim
‘I asked the local authority to purchase the property and they declined’
I am a landlord. When I finally found good tenants I foolishly didn’t put the rent up and now the property is let significantly below market value. When you look at yields and values this now devalues my property. Property is an investment. I’m not aware of any other investment class where the goalposts change so frequently and become punitive. I asked [local authority] to purchase the property and they declined. Tenants taking to social media complain about the stress and anxiety. What about mine? 📌 Co Wexford
