The increased prevalence of multi-person room share arrangements operating under licence agreements risks dragging the country back to the dark days of the tenements, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Journal reported today that one former office building in Dublin city centre has been converted into a residential property with around 22 bed spaces available for up to \u20ac890 per month each \u2013 an outrageous price for a room share that would yield the owner a monthly return of almost \u20ac20,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, due to the critical shortage of rental properties, desperate people in need of homes are having to resort to sharing rooms containing up to four beds each. Advertised listings for these highly inappropriate arrangements, while often legitimate, have become more common as our housing crisis goes from bad to worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile having to share a bedroom with others is a serious erosion of an individual\u2019s privacy and dignity, there are multiple reasons to be concerned about this trend. With many people entering into licence arrangements instead of formal tenancy agreements, this is putting them outside the scope of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and denying them the normal protections afforded to renters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes it difficult to immediately recognise whether an arrangement should be a tenancy or a licence as this is often only possible to determine when a formal dispute arises before the RTB or the courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommercial operators should not be allowed to operate in a similar manner to homeowners availing of the Rent-a-Room Relief scheme \u2013 but that\u2019s exactly what appears to be happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister for Housing needs to carry out an urgent audit to determine if property owners are entering into licence agreements to circumvent rent regulations \u2013 and how many such arrangements are in place around the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder this Government, those at the sharp end of the housing crisis are increasingly being subjected to crowded living conditions more akin to the tenements of Plunkett\u2019s \u2018Strumpet City\u2019 than what you\u2019d expect from a modern, functioning society. It must not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
April 20, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The increased prevalence of multi-person room share arrangements operating under licence agreements risks dragging the country back to the dark days of the tenements, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne said: \u201cThe Journal reported today that one former office building in Dublin city centre has been converted into a residential property […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,737,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rents","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n