Thousands of Dublin rental units fail to meet minimum legal standards

I think the real problem here is that these inspections are based off lists from the RTB ie. only registered properties. If the property is registered, it means that the landlord is generally compliant hence the 'problems' picked up are the minor ones; no microwave, a little bit of moss on the roof etc.

There is some very substandard and dangerous accommodation out there. But it is guaranteed that that landlord is not registered and so never inspected. Inspecting would involve work and persistence. The placed would have to be tracked down, access gained and threathening letters sent. That is all too much effort. It is much easier to fire off notices about scuff marks on the stairs or fire blankets not being positioned in quite the right place.
 
@misemoi and @Luternau I have lived in apt before, 1 bed apt just myself and my husband and his 3 kids every second weekend for 5 years.
Managed to wash and dry clothes in it using clothes horse and balcony on a good day.
Never once had a single ounce of mould in the apartment and we had no window in the bathroom. Proper ventilation and an understanding of how to use a storage heating system is all that is needed in this instance.

I had my apartment rented out for 8 years to a lovely fella before I moved back into it, he understood the assignment and no issues. So that is an apartment from 2007 ish until 2021 when it was sold with clothes drying inside and no issues.

Heat and air, two vital components. Sometimes people are just thick!
 
These articles are a complete disgrace.. they are meaningless without a proper understanding of what 'standard' was missing..
However, gives fuel to ppl like tenants, people before profit and those, they just take em at face value.

Takes the heat off the government, diverting it to the 'mean' landlord
 
colin44 said:
These articles are a complete disgrace.. they are meaningless without a proper understanding of what 'standard' was missing..
However, gives fuel to ppl like tenants, people before profit and those, they just take em at face value.
Click to expand...
I agree entirely. & I think we've all had these inspections where our properties have failed and been deemed substandard due to minor issues. I know that I have had.

One problem is as you say that everything failing seems to rank equally.'

They also give credence to Thresholds suggestion that all rentals should have to pass an NCT before the landlord is allowed rent them.
 
The microwave one is stupid because a microwave is about 70 euro and its a portable item.
Agreed RE the dryer - though I have to say I bought a heat pump dryer for the house & its fantastic, takes a bit longer to dry but doesn't use that much energy at all. The bigger issue is when apartment developments have house rules set early on to prevent people drying clothes on balconies - would make far more sense if OMCs were obliged to provide communal drying areas if they want to set such rules.
In one place I lived someone on the OMC threw a fit because a tenant in one of the apartments hung a towel out a window to dry on a hot summers day.
The other stupid one is demanding mechanical ventilation in kitchens as many kitchens wouldn't have the right layout or pre drilled holes to install vents and retrofitting this is painful.

An acquaintance of mine who is on HAP says the last inspector who came asked her if everything was ok and he just ticked all the boxes. They know full well that landlord looking for an excuse to exit the market can use this as justification for selling up if pressed.

One of the most stupid rules they ever set was changing the requirement from having A form of heating the tenant can control to insisting that there had to be tenant controlled central heating. Back in the old days the better rentals I had would have large boilers that the landlord turned on 1st Oct and switched off on 1st May and gave you a portable electric heater if you needed extra. In practice I think in that 1.5 year tenancy I used that electric heater just once. This is how we ended up with loads of apartments just having inefficient, expensive to run electric storage heater than are hated by tenants with such a passion that some end up going out and surreptitiously bringing in cheap portable butane gas heaters that are unvented and cause increased condensation that leads to mould and damp.

A lot of the requirements go over and above what would be normal for owner occupied homes of that era - for example having wired fire alarms or aforementioned mechanical extractor fans. I bought an ex rental and discovered that the vents had been stuffed up with newspaper (an Evening Press from 1995!) which explained a damp corner skirting board beside a large patio door, which turned out to also be woodworm infested.
 
I had 2 checks on my property, probably about 3 - 4 yrs apart.. On the second one they had me replace the fire alarms which were 20 yrs old (should be replaced every 10 yrs).. but why wasnt this picked up in the first one?

They also got me to vent the extractor fan through a hole that had to be drilled in the kitchen. It came this way when I bought the house, and had been fine for 15 or so yrs. If it should have been vented why is it not a requirement for builders to add this, as they installed the kitchen and extractor fan when they built the house (I just added appliances)..

They just seem to make thinks up as they go along..
 
When I had a rental they spent about 3 years trying to get access to do an inspection, I just kept putting it off and giving excuses in the knowledge I was going to sell it anyways eventually.

Just not worth the hassle.
 
colin44 said:
If it should have been vented why is it not a requirement for builders to add this, as they installed the kitchen and extractor fan when they built the house (I just added appliances)..
Click to expand...
They are enforcing regs as they stand at the time versus what was allowed at the time the property was built.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register