A woman in Buncrana, Co Donegal has said the mica crisis is making life impossible for those dependent on private rented accommodation, and has suggested rent controls be introduced.
Jade Houten, who has been living for more than nine years in a rented three-bed house in the town with her two sons, has been served with a 90-day notice that her landlord wants to increase her rent to €280 per week, from €120 per week, which is the equivalent of an increase from €480 monthly to €1,120 monthly.
She is unable to find affordable alternative accommodation and is unsure as to what will happen next to her and her family.
“I’m trying to find somewhere else but there’s nowhere,” she said. “I applied for social housing but I was told I’m above the [income] threshold. There’s nowhere advertised, there’s nowhere to go. It’s a nightmare.”
In response to the mica crisis the Government is contributing to the cost of repairing people’s homes, including giving a grant of up to €15,000 to help people rent alternative accommodation while repair work is being carried out.
In the official Notice of Rent Review form Ms Houten received advising her of the proposed increase, the issue of the grants available to those in the mica redress scheme was raised.
She was told it should be “noted that there is currently a huge lack of long-term housing throughout the Inishowen area at present, leaving the rental market very strong and due to rise further”.
An assessment of rent levels in the area then noted that the mica redress scheme was contributing €15,000 to homeowners to help them secure temporary accommodation.
Ms Houten said she knew her rent was low and would be increased but was not expecting it to be increased to the extent being proposed.
“Because of the grants the Government are offering at the moment as part of the mica scheme, there is a need for a rent pressure zone so people already in housing are not put out,” she said.
Rent pressure zones are designated areas where rent increases for new and existing tenancies are capped. The first designated areas were in Cork city and parts of Dublin in 2016, but other areas have since been added. The most recent were the Shannon local electoral area and the administrative area of Westmeath County Council, which were designated rent pressure zones in November 2023.
Ms Houten, a clerical officer with the HSE, is challenging the proposed rent increase on her home to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), arguing that the three comparable properties cited in the notice she received are in Letterkenny, which is not a comparable location, and that for this reason the notice is invalid.
However, she believes that even if she is successful her rent will still be eventually increased to a level she will not be able to pay “and I will have to move out”.
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Fionán Bradley said there is definitely an accommodation crisis in Buncrana to which the mica crisis is a contributing factor.
“There is no rented accommodation available, and any that is, the rent has just pushed away up,” he said. “We are in a bit of a perfect storm here, to be honest, because of the mica crisis.”
One new council development is to be finished this year and a new one started, he said. Some people may need short-term solutions but what is really needed is more houses to be built in the area, both by the council and the private sector, he said.
A request for a comment from Donegal County Council met with no response.
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