Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the students and Ógra Shinn Féin to the Gallery and thank Deputies Farrell and Ó Broin for bringing the Bill before the House. The rent-a-room scheme, or digs, is increasingly becoming a necessity for people, especially students, when there is a lack of available or affordable accommodation. While incentives have been put in place to make the proposition more attractive for property owners, those benefits are not accompanied by obligations towards their tenants. This means tenants in digs, essentially students, are without the important protections they need.

When students are offered a place for further education, they can often find themselves faced with seeking accommodation in some of the most expensive areas in the country. That is why the rent-a-room scheme might be the viable option for them. Unlike for other renters, however, rent pressure zones do not apply to them. This is a shortcoming that contradicts the whole spirit of this scheme, namely, affordability. Additionally, the requirement for a notice period does not apply to them, nor does the issue of privacy in the context of the right to lock the door of the room in which they are staying, or access to the RTB for dispute resolution. These are just some of the issues renters of rooms can face. In worst-case scenarios, the lack of controls and regulations can affect the safety of renters, while it cannot guarantee the same protection of rent controls. Granted, not everyone has a bad experience of this - indeed, many renters have positive ones - but when the homeowner has the incentive to avail of a tax relief of up to €14,000 and to have that income disregarded from their medical card assessment, they must be asked to shoulder some obligations towards their tenants.

The Bill seeks to address some of these shortcomings. It will also require the RTB to draw up a standard template statement setting out the rate of rent, the deposit provided and the right to use certain facilities. This will benefit both sides, including the homeowner, who will also have recourse to access dispute resolution with the RTB. We know that homeowners will find a benefit in this, as studies have indicated. As the matter standard, students, who primarily avail of this type of rental option, are not guaranteed financial protections, the right to a notice period or to privacy, or even basic expectations. The Bill seeks to fill this vacuum in the interests of students and in this overall segment of the rental sector. If we would not tolerate it for ourselves, why would we expect students to do so?

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