Previous Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President László Molnárfi has taken a Residential and Tenancies Board (RTB) adjudication hearing against Trinity College Dublin. His case argued that the overnight guest policy enforced by Trinity’s licence agreements is an “unreasonable restriction on students and a breach of privacy” . The hearing was held on July 9th 2024.
The adjudicator of the hearing found that the application made by Molnárfi could not be upheld due to lack of evidence that the tenant had been adversely affected by the overnight guest policy. Nevertheless it was found that the policy which both requires permission for tenants to have overnight visitors and restricts the number of visitors permitted was against tenant rights.
The adjudicator stated “I find as a matter of fact that the overnight policy is an unenforceable condition in the licence agreement […] it is clear that from an objective standpoint such conditions would be considered an unreasonable restriction on any tenant’s occupation of a dwelling and the test for reasonableness is no different because the respondent landlord is an education provider.”
TCDSU have welcomed this finding, and have called on College to take action. “We implore Trinity to end this policy, and give students the basic dignity of allowing guests in their accommodation overnight. This ruling speaks to just how out of touch the college has been in so many areas of what it means to be a student.”
The Residential Tenancies Act (Amendment) 2019 brought Student Specific Accommodation – including those provided by universities – under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board on the 15th of July 2019.
A college spokesperson commented to The University Times “I can confirm that Trinity is appealing in an effort to obtain clarity on this matter. The Residential Tenancies Act (Amendment) 2019 brought Student Specific Accommodation – including those provided by universities – under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board on 15 July 2019. Trinity’s overnight policy – which is in line with sectoral norms – requires residents to provide advance notice of guests via an electronic request. This has been a pragmatic policy designed primarily to protect students living on campus. It has been our view that university campus accommodation is unlike “normal” residential provision.”
The spokesperson further added that “Students share accommodation on campus so overnight guests have an impact on other residents. Most students on campus are in their final year of study and many prefer that their residence is a quiet environment to study.”
Most students renting in student specific accommodation, such as that provided by Trinity, are in a licence agreement as opposed to a lease. This means that these renters are licensees who were previously entitled to less rights than tenants.
Under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019, licensees are now protected by the RTB and have largely the same rights as those leasing a property, making the presence of an overnight guest policy all the more controversial.
