RENTAL DEPOSITS:MORE THAN 60 per cent of students are being "ripped off by rogue landlords" who unfairly retain some or all of their rental deposits, the Union of Students in Ireland has claimed.
The USI and national housing organisation Threshold are calling for the introduction of a deposit protection scheme to prevent the misuse of deposits by landlords.
Landlords were using students’ deposits as income rather than as insurance that the terms of the lease would be complied with, the union said. It found more than 60 per cent of students had in excess of €200 unfairly withheld from their deposits and of those, 40 per cent got back none of the money to which they were entitled.
Students were paying deposits as high as €1,000 and landlords appeared to be using the money to pay mortgages instead of retaining it for eventual return to tenants, said USI president Gary Redmond.
“Unfortunately we find unscrupulous landlords prey particularly on first-year students who may be less aware than older students of their rights,” Mr Redmond added.
“Often landlords simply disappear once they get the keys back. There should be an agreement that landlords and tenants meet on the last day and the handing back of keys and deposits happens simultaneously.”
The union wants the Government to introduce a deposit protection scheme, where the deposit is held by an independent agency such as the Private Residential Tenancies Board.
The scheme would reduce the number of cases which have to be taken to the board. Some three-quarters of cases reported to the board involved deposit retention.
“These days a deposit can be as much as €1,000,” said Threshold chairwoman Senator Aideen Hayden. “This is the kind of money that cash-strapped students and their parents can ill-afford to lose.”
The USI, with the support of Threshold and the Department of the Environment, has published a rent book and accommodation guide with practical information on any accommodation problems students may face throughout the college year.
The guide, which is available from student unions throughout the Republic, also lists a number of support organisations and services that are available if students run into difficulties with landlords.
