The realtor seemed unimpressed. I had told him that while I wasn’t working, I was a Masters’ student studying Theology in Trinity. But the word student was all he needed to hear. He replied bluntly that the property wasn’t available to ‘your kind’. Before I could tell him I was willing to pay the exorbitant price for his tiny Angela’s Ashes flat with themed décor and sign up to a weighty twelve month contract, he hung up.
The worrying part was that this was not an isolated incident. Everywhere I went I was met by rude, condescending landlords and realtors. I called roughly thirty numbers and only a couple had answered and even fewer were willing to arrange viewings. It just goes to show the importance of finding a Greensboro realtor who is willing to work with you, no matter your background or budget. I found out later that many phones were switched off due to an inundation of calls. If I was fortunate to get to speak to the landlords, they would tell me to call them back and never answer or chuckle when I told them that we were a group of male students. Sometimes I progressed to the stage of actually getting to view the property and I quickly learned that preference is unequivocally given to professionals whose credentials I could not compete with. It became increasingly stressful. I realised that I would have to revise my budget upwards if I wanted to find anywhere that met at least one or two of my requirements.
According to a recent report by Daft.ie, rent prices have risen by 7.5% in Dublin; from my own anecdotal evidence I have observed that increases in prices are greater in desirable student areas near the city e.g. Rathmines, Ranelagh and Drumcondra.
A particular experience of mine perfectly describes the difficulties encountered by students. I arrived with my two prospective roommates at a viewing for an apartment in D1. There were three tiny bedrooms tucked in the back of a decrepit Georgian building. We were made to stand along the rails of the building before we could enter. The line of people rapidly grew by the second until it almost stretched around the corner.
There is a palpable tension in the air between people at these open viewings, the kind that exists between those jostling for a place on an overflowing subway. You’d do anything to get your spot and everyone eyes each other judgmentally. On the steps above us the realtor and landlady stood like superior beings, questioning each individual as they waited their turn to view the property. When the realtor noted that we were three male students they exchanged glances and nodded knowingly. It felt like an incredible waste of everyone’s time.
Once inside, the apartment was tiny, dirty and incredibly depressing. In one of the bedrooms a sheet on the mattress displayed a grotesque stain shaped like Italy. Of course we’d take it, we said in a delightful chorus. The landlord told us that he’d put our names on a list and decide tomorrow. He was quick to remind us of the ‘no party’ clause. I felt like telling him there wasn’t a reasonable space for a party never mind a one to one soul searching discussion.
One particularly humiliating aspect of this ordeal is the manner in which you have to market yourself to prospective landlords. You are paying them ridiculous sums of money to live in paltry rooms designed for characters from Dostoyevsky novels, yet you have to dress up in your Sunday best and whisper sweet nothings about cleanliness and your background. Is the market so skewed in favour of the landlord that we have descended into a sort of madness where we are aware that we have to treat each viewing as a job interview? I took particular offense to questions about my address in Galway and my parents’ occupations.
The aforementioned Daft.ie report explains that these “holes in the wall” are currently so desirable because of a 43 per cent reduction in the number of properties available to rent in the capital. I also imagine that the depressed property market is positively affecting the demand for rental accommodation as more young couples look to rent instead of buy homes. The powers that be could certainly take a more proactive role in alleviating some of the stress. The USI’s call for action on the accommodation crisis by the government is a start but there is a long way to go before rhetoric becomes reality. A lack of basic empathy and communication from the college are cause for resentment when students are facing an increasingly epic task with no choice but to undertake it.
Regardless of the negative situation for those currently seeking accommodation there is also a great need for introspection on behalf of the students. When given the opportunity to discuss their reasons, landlords put down their unwillingness to rent to students as a result of previous negative experiences. Every single student knows of some horror story associated with a friends’ house; after parties that ended up escalating beyond control, squalor unimaginable to most and a simple lack of respect. Regardless of increasing demand and falling supply, reasonable students will always struggle to find decent accommodation as a result of their counterparts. A change in perceptions of students is not achievable overnight but is certainly worth the effort. Any student who breaks a lease or damages a rental is not only making it more difficult for themselves in subsequent years but for everyone else also. This short sightedness must be overcome if we ever want to be able to move out of dungeon style basement flats with furniture bought from the last century into decent quarters fit for habitation.
