A limited supply of accommodation has left students working against the clock to find a place to live during their studies.
Jamie McGinty (19), a second-year engineering student from Achill, Co Mayo, says his “stress levels are through the roof” as he commits to “a full-time thing checking groups and websites constantly” while working six or seven days a week to afford staying in Galway.
In addition to facing a limited supply of expensive housing, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) this week warned students to be cautious of rental scams.
Last year, An Garda Síochána reported that about one third of all accommodation fraud reports occur during August and September, with 34 per cent of victims aged under 25, and 66 per cent aged under 33.
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McGinty has come across plenty of posts online which he believes to be scams: “So many people are trying to get you to pay deposits or a booking fee for a viewing.”
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One red flag noted by Muriel Dolan, deputy director of financial education at the CCPC, is landlords claiming “to be out of town or living abroad and cannot show the property in person”.
“This one’s quite common”, says Maria Balan (23), who has just finished a four-year art degree at IADT.
“It’s somebody who poses as a landlord from a different country, in the sense of like, ‘Oh I live in London right now, so I cannot come down to see you for a viewing if you don’t send me some money,’” says Balan.
While Balan is aware that no reputable landlord “will ask you for money before a viewing”, she said it can be difficult to filter out scam advertisements, especially on Facebook and Gumtree.
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Balan, who is from Romania, feels that her nationality has added to the difficulties of finding a place to live in Dublin.
“The moment that they [landlords] realise I’m from abroad, they would kind of, you know, shy away a little bit, and probably just not talk to me any more,” she says.
During her third year of studying, Ms Balan paid €600 per month to live in a “very small space” which housed three other people.
Ronan Meleady (20), a law student at the University of Limerick, says some accommodation advertisements “don’t have any pictures” and don’t offer viewings until a payment is given.
Meleady, originally from Waterford, secured accommodation in Limerick through a family connection. He is beginning a mandatory placement for his degree in Cork in September and has found “reasonable enough” digs in the city at €650 a month.
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“Worst-case scenario, I could have commuted. It would have been quite difficult, but I could have done it. I’m not in the same scenario as someone who has no accommodation and desperately needs it,” he said.
He is concerned that the “number of students going to college every year is increasing, and we’re not really seeing an increase in the amount of student accommodation that’s actually affordable for people, and that’s actually accessible for people”.
Commuting is not an option for Cora Howson (18) from Carrick-on-Shannon, who is going into the second year of an arts degree in Maynooth University this September. Her mother Rachel Howson says that because her daughter doesn’t drive, “It’s not feasible for her to commute. She would be doing 12- to 14-hour days [by train] and wouldn’t be able to put the focus on her studies.”
The search for accommodation is “absolutely just a nightmare” for the family. Cora is the first in the family to attend university and her mother says the family is having to navigate the market by themselves.
Scams on Facebook are rampant, according to Howson: “Every time I put up a new post on Facebook I get two comments with links. I wouldn’t touch anything with a link. I would make sure I can have a viewing, and that deposits are only handed over after we’ve met the landlord.
“If we don’t find something, we’ll have to look at taking a year out.”
