Rising rents out of control – Crowe

Dublin South West TD Seán Crowe has said that rising rents were out of control not only in Dublin, but now right across the State.

He made his comments as new figures from the online housing agency Daft.ie revealed, that rents are rising right across the state, with the number of actual properties available for rent  at its lowest point in seven years.

Crowe has called for major social housing investment, in order to tackle the serious shortage of housing and the rising residential rents.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“Dublin rents have increased in the last year  by a whopping 14%  with rents across the state up by 11%. Residential property prices in Dublin were 23.9% higher at the end of June 2014 than they were at the end of June 2013

“This is not good news for anyone looking to buy or rent a house or apartment. It’s not good news either for students seeking affordable accommodation as they prepare for an already costly further education.

“Renting accommodation is rising at unprecedented rate but income and salaries for working families are certainly not.

“Accommodation is increasingly not affordable and in no way related to the quality of accommodation on offer.

“The figures from Daft.ie come on the back of other figures which highlighted that the majority of rental properties inspected by Dublin City Council failed to meet even the basic standards.

“We have an on going situation where tenants are paying astronomical rents for what can in some circumstances only be considered slum accommodation.

“We now need a number of  immediate proactive measures to address the State’s rental and housing crisis.

“The Government could introduce  some sort of rent controls to stem the hikes in prices and stop the steady flow of renters into homelessness.  We also need a major investment in social housing to take pressure off the private market and further stabilise rents.

“This Government have announced some building plans but they still fall short and are simply not up to the crisis facing families and individuals looking for rented accommodation.”