NUI Galway Students’ Union (NUIGSU) has condemned a 20 per cent increase in rent in Menlo Park private student accommodation.
Prices for the apartments, which provide 140 beds for students have been steadily increasing year on year, but this year’s increase for the privately owned apartments have seen the price of a single en-suite room rise by €1,390.
In a press statement, NUIGSU President Megan Reilly said: “It is beyond frustrating that a year after our efforts protesting the accommodation price rise in Cúirt na Coiribe, we are facing yet another such increase in one of our accommodation providers.”
“These kind of rent increases not captured by the Residential Tenancies Act exploit students in a time of an accommodation crisis, and they must not go unchallenged”, she said.
Last year the government committed to introducing legislation that would extend the four per cent rent cap rule to purpose-built accommodation. However, such a promise has yet to be fulfilled.
According to the Residential Tenancies Board, rent pressure zones are designated areas where rent increases are capped at four per cent a year. Located in parts of the country where rents are highest and rising, they are intended to moderate rent increases in these areas and create a stable and sustainable rental market.
Reilly said: “The failure of the Government to act on this matter means unregulated rent increases in Student Accommodation continue to happen, while the private housing surrounding these areas is bound by the 4% rule. Soaring Accommodation prices continue to be one of the biggest barriers to securing a Third Level education, with parents now being faced with paying the increase, or students having to work extra hours to afford to live in Galway.”
This recent accommodation price increase follows protests carried out last year by NUIGSU and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Students’ Union after a number of its students were notified of rent increases of up to €1,000 at Cúirt n Coiribe in the middle of exam time. NUIGSU took the issue to court but were not successful in challenging the rent increase.
