‘No quick fix’ for Limerick’s steep rental market
A LIMERICK TD has warned that renters in the city’s rent pressure zone are at risk of falling into poverty, as they struggle to meet monthly costs and utilities.
“The cost of rent in the city and its surroundings has become totally unaffordable for most working families,” Deputy Maurice Quinlivan told the Limerick Leader.
This was in response to a recent property listing on Daft.ie, where a two-bedroom apartment, located on the northside of the city, was advertised for €2,200 per month.
Last year, rent prices in Limerick city increased by 8%. According to a 2021 Daft Rental Price Report, in October, a two-bed apartment in the city, would cost on average €1,277 per month.
Pat Dooley, of REA Dooley Group, a prominent auctioneers located on O’Connell Street, said that this particular listing would be more in line with a luxury property on the North Circular Road.
When asked if the price tag was justifiable in any way, he said: “I would imagine some landlords put higher than average asking prices to reduce the number of calls and emails they receive but this price is clearly off the radar.”
Limerick city is subject to strict regulations under a rent pressure zone, whereby landlords can only increase the rent by inflation or 2% per year pro rata.
Mr Dooley believes that there is “no quick fix” to the situation, and that as long as there is inflation, the parameters will stay the same. He expects an increase in landlords exiting the market this year.
Approximately 2,200 landlords exited the market in Ireland last year which was an increase of 300 on the figure in 2020.
He also believes that the introduction of rent caps “is going to push more landlords to sell their properties at a time when they are exiting in their droves due to property prices increasing.”
Deputy Quinlivan recognised that most landlords in Limerick are fair and reasonable with their tenants, but some have taken advantage of the “current high demand to charge excessively for below - standard accommodation.”
“We have seen some extreme examples of this across Limerick over the past 18 months. Students, desperate to secure term accommodation, have been offered units in which the bed is adjacent to the cooker.
“Others have been charged high rents for properties that they are only allowed to avail of Monday to Friday,” the Sinn Féin representative told the Limerick Leader.
In Limerick, he is calling on a ban on rent increases, a large increase on funding for cost rental homes and an annual refundable tax credit equal to one month’s rent.
“Renting in the city is quickly becoming totally unaffordable and placing many of our renters at the risk of poverty,” he concluded.