'Student accommodation will be unaffordable' if plan to permit more rent hikes goes through

UCC Students' Union says rent may deter people from third-level education and calls for more publicly-funded apartments 

The Department of Higher Education and the Department of Housing are at odds over  plans by the former to permit the resetting of rents for private student accommodation once every three years. Picture: iStock

The Government has been criticised for proposals to allow the providers of private student accommodation to hike rents more often, with UCC Students' Union saying it would make housing “entirely unaffordable”.

Higher education minister James Lawless is seeking to change how often rents can be reset to market rates, with his department currently at odds with the Department of Housing.

The housing department has proposed that private student accommodation providers would be permitted to reset market rents once every three years. This would mean rents would not be reset until 2029 at the earliest.

However, the Department of Higher Education wants to allow for two resets to market rents during those three years.

'Focus on private rather than public'

UCC Students' Union communications officer Alex Fuertes Roper is critical of the proposed changes, saying it shows the Government is focusing on unaffordable private accommodation rather than public student accommodation.

“We want to see publicly-funded purpose-built student accommodation,” Mr Roper said.

“We need the Government to invest in that particular area, because students already can’t afford to live with the current [private] beds that are offered to students, especially in Cork.

“We have probably the worst ratio of public versus private student accommodation.”

UCC Students' Union has previously raised concerns about the ratio of public to private student accommodation, with just 1,540 public beds available.

We’ve got a cohort of about 26,000 students this year. That [public bed capacity] does not cover even 5% of the students that go to UCC.

Mr Roper said students are required to pay an average of €7,000 for public accommodation, while private accommodation providers are charging an average of €14,000 for a college term.

Mr Roper said proposed Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) rule changes would lead to increased private rents, meaning that private accommodation would become “entirely unaffordable for students and for anybody with a full-time job”. He said accommodation costs are becoming a barrier to third-level education.

If a student cannot go to college, cannot access college, live close to college, then they’re not going to want to apply.

Allowing rents to be reset was confirmed as part of changes to RPZ rules earlier this year, with landlords to be permitted to revert to market rents every six years, or when a tenant leaves a lease. For most leases, rent hikes will be restricted to 2% per year. 

However, for new purpose-built student accommodation, it will be permitted to increase beyond 2%, but not beyond the rate of inflation.

'Profit at the expense of students'

Sinn Féin TD for Clare and higher education spokesperson, Donna McGettigan, criticised the proposals.

“Incentivising developers into the student accommodation market means increasing their profits at the expense of students,” she said. 

"This is going to have serious negative impacts on students and their families when they are already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”

Ms McGettigan said the proposed change would “further cripple young people”, while calling for Mr Lawless to scrap the plan.

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“Many families will have no option but to dig even deeper to pay these increased rents.” 

She added: “Many students will have to take on extra work which will impact on their studies.

“We need to see more investment in purpose-built student accommodation, not profiteering by imposing poverty and misery on students.”