'Simply horrifying': Eighteen students share two-bedroom home in Limerick

BOTH University of Limerick (UL) and Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) officials have stepped in to provide support to 18 students who were living in a two-bedroom rental house in Thomondgate.

All students from south Asia, they say they were misled about how many people the property would hold.

Many of them paid rents of up to €600, and a matching deposit to secure their place in the accommodation prior to arrival in Limerick.

One of the students, Kalfan Ahmad, originally from Bangladesh, did just this.

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He is still living in the home along with 12 other people - five others have now found alternative accommodation.

“I struggle to use the kitchen and the bathroom,” he said.

He moved into a room in the attic, and found himself sharing the same spot with three other students.

“It is not humanly possible to have four beds in one room. I cannot even move,” says Kalfan, who has been living in the property for 14 days.

In the house, a front-room living area is home to four beds, while a middle room provides sleeping space for two more people.

A dining area at the rear has been converted, and hosts two toilet cubicles, and a small table which all the tenants are expected to share.

The only bathroom in the property is located off the kitchen, with one shower catering for 18 residents.

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On the first floor, six people are sleeping - a small bedroom has two beds, the master-bedroom is subdivided into two small rooms with two beds each.

The attic is home to six people, with the space divided into three small rooms, each with two beds.

Asked how he found the property, Kalfan said he made contact with somebody from Bangladesh, who alerted him to a Facebook advert for the home.

Off the back of this, he communicated with the landlord, who supplied him with pictures and a video of the accommodation.

It was on this basis that he paid a deposit and a first month of rent.

“When I got here, it was totally different. There were already 12 people when I moved in. When you see something on a picture, you expect to get the same thing,” he said.

Kalfan is on the look-out for alternative accommodation and a spokesperson for TUS has said they have secured alternative accommodation for five of its students who are impacted.

This was thanks to the college’s global office working together with its student union, whose deputy president Gearóid Folan described the situation as “simply horrifying”.

“This is the single worst case of student accommodation I have ever encountered. These students travelled from overseas to seek an education here in Ireland and have been completely taken advantage of,” he said.

“No landlord should be allowed to exploit students in this way, and we must see change.”

A spokesperson for UL said the college is “actively reviewing” both medium and long-term accommodation to increase the supply of student accommodation in Limerick.

They added: "UL Global and the accommodation service is doing everything possible to engage with the students to find alternative, more suitable accommodation."

Cllr Azad Talukder, who is also from Bangladesh, has met the students impacted.

He pointed out that they would have paid up to €20,000 each to study in Ireland for a year.

“It shocks me how greedy people can be to treat humans this way,” he added.

Cllr Shane Hickey O’Mara praised the students for speaking out.

“It took a lot of bravery and will doubtless help others to advocate for themselves, their friends and classmates”.

Despite the poor accommodation, Kalfan says the rest of his experience in Ireland has been positive so far.

He thanked his neighbours for their support - indeed it was the Thomondgate Residents Association who brought the issue to light after they noticed a huge build-up of litter bags outside.

Kalfan has said the people he is living with are friendly, and neighbours have dropped around food and groceries to help out the students.

Limerick Live understands Limerick Council officials carried out an inspection of the property.

Limerick City and County Council said it dooes not comment on individual cases.

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In a statement, it added: "In general, local authorities in Ireland have legal powers to take action under housing, planning and public health laws where overcrowding of rental homes is reported or suspected."

Actions available to council include the inspection of rental properties, advising landlords to fix problems, and issuing a prohibition notice which will stop a property from being rented if issues are not addressed.

On top of this, the authority can take landlords to court, where fines can be up to €5,000 or, in serious cases, a custodial sentence could be imposed.

Council can also investigate if a conversion of a building constitutes a material change resulting in a planning breach.

It can deal with health hazards like damp, vermin, or poor sanitation under public health laws, and report landlords to the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB).

The RTB does not inspect homes but can penalise landlords for serious breaches, including overcrowding and failing to register tenancies.

The property’s landlord - who is understood to be based in Dublin - did not respond to a request for comment from this newspaper.