Latest news with #ResidentialTenanciesBoard
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Residential Tenancies Board's new ICT system €5.2m over budget
A new ICT system for the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) ran €5.2m over budget and was delivered 29 months late, without all planned functions. The online tenancy registration system was initially budgeted at €3.3m, and came into use in November 2021, but it reached an overall cost of €8.5m, bringing it over budget by 157%. After the RTB360 system went live, the RTB noted in its annual report that the cost had reached €7.3m but stated that "no further costs are expected for this phase". However, the commencement of annual tenancy registration in April 2022 saw "significant performance failures" arise for users and further development was required through 2023, with the operation issues resolved towards the end of the year. Initially, the associated costs for the further development work was estimated at just over €1.1m. Temporary pause As a result of these system failures, a temporary pause in the automatic charging of late fees was introduced in November 2022 and remained in place until March 1, 2024. During 2023, the RTB refunded €1.67m in late fees, while the data on fees refunded in 2024 has not been published. In the 2023 annual report, it is also noted that the original scope for the system included system requirements for handling disputes and enforcement, which were not included. The RTB has since "adopted a new approach" to deliver a dispute-resolution system using the ServiceNow platform, with a pilot beginning testing last month. The first phase of this new system will be delivered within one year and has cost less than €1m to date, according to an RTB spokesperson. In light of the drastic cost overrun and delay in delivery, the RTB board commissioned an independent external review of the RTB360 project. A spokesperson told the Irish Examiner that it had "received legal advice that currently prevents us from sharing this report" but said recommendations from the review have been implemented. Rory Hearne questioned whether State agencies require more support for ICT projects. Picture: PA Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne submitted a parliamentary question to housing minister James Browne regarding RTB360 but was told the minister has "no official responsibility to Dáil Éireann for this matter". As the RTB is a State body, Mr Hearne said Mr Browne should be taking responsibility to respond, just as other ministers must when it comes to State agencies being held accountable. The issues raised by RTB360 and other ICT projects which have resulted in significant overspend beg the question as to whether State agencies require more support and resources when such projects are being undertaken, Mr Hearne added. Read More 50th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's landmark collection on Troubles to be marked
Sunday World
6 days ago
- Business
- Sunday World
Election candidate owes thousands to young mum he charged extra to rent his property
Mother of three Kirsty Fitzsimons says she was told to fork out extra for a 'top-up' to the agreed rent costs from Dermot McGuckin. Names to be blurred out on Fitzsimons rent extorsion talking to Alan Sherry in Mullingar Gary Ashe,21/5/2025 Dermot McGuckin says the RTB hearing went ahead without his knowledge An election candidate and landlord who called for more social and affordable housing for struggling families has refused to pay thousands he owes to a young mother after the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) found he had illegally withheld her deposit. Dermot (Diarmuid) McGuckin (58), who is originally from Dublin but living in Fossa, Co Kerry, was ordered by the RTB to pay €3,280 to Kirsty Fitzsimons for illegally withholding her deposit for a property he rents out in Tallaght, Dublin. As well as running as an Independent candidate in the local elections in Killarney, McGuckin has set up firms in diverse industries, including home care for the elderly, tourism, cleaning services and communications. He is also a taxi driver and was elected chair of the Irish Taxi Federation in Killarney. McGuckin further describes himself as a public relations consultant, and a number of years ago set up The Bellarose Foundation, which he said provided cleaning and care services to women going through chemotherapy. Kirsty Fitzsimons with documentation for the RTB He also organised a Great Santa Cycle in Killarney to raise funds for what he called the Bellarose Youth Development Fund. As well as not returning his tenant's deposit, McGuckin was also getting Kirsty to secretly pay an additional €830 per month on top of the €1,950 lease agreement. Kirsty said: 'When we contacted him about renting it, he said, 'I have someone else who is highly interested and it is between you and them. They have offered x, y and z above the lease, what can you offer'? 'I have never seen anything like it – and I've been renting since 2017,' she said. Kirsty said she felt like she had no option but to pay the extra to secure the rental property which is in Forest Lawns in Kingswood. News in 90 Seconds - May 30th 'I had three children and was desperate for a house for the kids and there was no alternative. He had €1,950 down as the lease agreement but was actually charging €2,780. 'When I told the HAP [Housing Assistance Payment scheme] about this they said to stop paying him extra rent. After that, he was contacting me at all times about the top-up. He was actually the most difficult landlord I ever dealt with in my life.' When McGuckin ran in the local elections in Kerry he claimed one of his main concerns was 'more social and affordable housing' for struggling families. Kirsty said her experience with him was 'completely different'. Kirsty Fitzsimons tells our reporter her story 'He said he was for families and all that. If he was, he wouldn't be charging outrageous amounts of rent for young families. I think it was ridiculous. All he cared about was the money. 'I'm waiting for the deposit nearly two years. I think he thought I'm young so he'd be able to take advantage.' In the end, Kirsty only stayed in the house for six months before leaving, but when she did leave in July 2023, McGuckin refused to give her the €2,780 security deposit back. McGuckin has owed the money to the young mother-of-three for almost two years but had point blank refused to give it back, didn't bother turning up to the RTB hearing and has not responded to Ms Fitzsimons' calls and messages since. Things were even more stressful for Kirsty after she received bad health news recently. 'I was going through all this with the RTB and him, and then I found out I had a BRCA1 gene for breast and ovarian cancer. I have to get a double mastectomy and an ovariectomy.' The RTB ordered McGuckin to pay the €2,780 deposit and an additional €500 in compensation. However, when contacted by the Sunday World, McGuckin claimed that he wasn't even aware there had been an RTB case against him. 'To have a court case [RTB hearing] without me being there is very f**king harsh. But I don't know, I'd have to see what notes I have on it and bring them up. 'To go ahead and have a hearing without me having any input whatsoever, surely there's a law against that?' Kirsty is now facing the prospect of surgery A spokesperson for the RTB confirmed there is indeed a law against that and rubbished McGuckin's claims that they would schedule the hearing without informing all parties. 'By law, we must give notice of a dispute hearing. We will only schedule a case for a hearing when we have contact details for all parties,' they said. The spokesperson said the RTB contacts all parties to confirm contact details before sending them hearing notices. As well as claiming he was unaware of the RTB case, McGuckin tried to justify not giving back the deposit and made a series of claims which Kirsty said were outright lies. 'There was a lot of reasons why she didn't get it back at the time,' McGuckin claimed. Asked what they were, he said: 'Damage to the property and there was some stuff gone from the property that was there when she moved in.' Asked for examples of either damage or missing items, he couldn't provide even a single one. 'Ah now, I have a list there I'd have to go through. As I said, this is the first I've heard about this,' he said. Kirsty said McGuckin was lying about damage to the property and any missing items. 'It's complete and utter nonsense. I can't believe he said there were things missing. I've never been accused of stealing before. He can't tell you what was missing because there was nothing missing.' She said every other landlord she has dealt with, including estate agents, have always given her glowing references. McGuckin also claimed he hadn't heard from Kirsty since she left in July 2023. 'I'm at a loss of what to tell you. I haven't heard from her since she left. I think once maybe she got in contact after she left.' However, Kirsty said that was another lie and she has contacted him numerous times since by phone and by email, but he has ignored all communication. Asked if he was willing to give her back her deposit now, McGuckin said: 'I'd have to look in to that. I know it was withheld for a reason and probably multiple reasons, I wouldn't be holding onto anything you know... if everything was OK, there'd be no issue.' Kristy said she was insulted that McGuckin would try to say she was at fault for not getting her deposit back. 'I wouldn't have gone to the RTB if what he was saying was true and wouldn't be doing an interview about it. He didn't inspect the house before we moved in. He got the previous tenant to leave a key under the mat. He also didn't inspect it when we moved out. He had no bill for any supposed damage he claimed was caused, he can't name a single thing missing,' she said. When the Sunday World asked McGuckin why he was looking for an additional €830 in payments on top of the €1,950 lease, he initially said: 'Em, no, whatever was on the lease agreement would have been what was charged.' However, when we pointed out Kirsty had messages showing he was in fact demanding €2,780, he said: 'I can't remember off-hand. I mean you're after getting me completely off hand on this one.' Landlords can legitimately ask for payments on top of HAP payments if the HAP payments don't meet the rent amount, but cannot ever ask for payments on top of what is stated on the lease. The property was also in a rent pressure zone with strict limits on how much rent could be increased by from one year to the next.
RTÉ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
'Can't stay weekends' - Galway rents leading to struggles
Students and residents in Galway have been outlining their struggles with paying high amounts of rent for accomodation in the city. The Residential Tenancies Board has warned of "concerning trends" of rental inflation in Galway that need further investigation. Callum Phelan and Jake O'Brien are students living in an six-room apartment in Galway city. Their landlord lets out the accommodation to tourists at the weekends, meaning those living there during the week can only stay there from Monday to Friday. "It can fit nine in the house. There's a bunk bed, there's a room with two beds, and then there's single rooms. It's €800 a month, so it would be about €4,000 a month, Monday to Friday. We can't stay weekends," said Mr Phelan. "You have to pay extra (if you want to stay at weekends) ... it's not good. It's been like that the whole time, since first year. This is my third year now, and it has always been fairly steep. I know lads paying €250 a week. It's expensive. "In the rooms, there's just a bed. There are no wardrobes or anything, so I just have everything out of my suitcase," he added. "I share a room with someone, so I'm paying €600 a month. Having to leave at the weekends is a joke," said Mr O'Brien. "I don't think there's enough accommodation for students that cheap enough anyway, with the cost-of-living prices going up ... But even if we're not there, we have to pay. I had two weeks off for Easter, and we still had to pay €150 for the week, even if we're not using the accommodation," he added. Another student, Nicole Bukovska, is currently searching for accommodation with four others. "We were looking at prices that were maybe, €1,000 a month or something like that, and that's just for one person. So, it's all over the place," she said. "It's an awful lot, because we are all students as well. It's quite hard. We're in student accommodation at the moment, and we pay €747 a month for a small, little room. Next year, that same accommodation is going to go up to around €900 a month, so it's really hard." 'Impossible' to find somewhere below €800 a month Lorcan Boulcer believes he is lucky to be paying reasonably affordable rent in Galway city. "It seems to be the last place in Galway that rent is affordable," he said, speaking of his own case. "I know the climate, I hear it from my friends every day. There's a couple of us looking for a house for one of our new colleagues. It's impossible to get anywhere below €800 or €900 a month, it's ridiculous." "How much is €800 or €900 a month out of an average wage? It's an arm and a leg. Really, you're in vast amounts of shared accommodation where you could be sharing with up to six people ... What are we supposed to do? There's no discretionary income anymore. Every single cent that you make seems to go to somebody, before you even get to decide what to spend it on yourself," he added. "Rents in Galway seem to be matching the rents in Dublin, and rents in Dublin are more expensive than rents in London, which is ridiculous. That wasn't the case a couple of years ago. When my sister went to college here, rents were between €300 and €400 a month. Now, it's €600, €650 for a shared room," said another resident, Dagda Semler. "It's not just rents within the city, it's rents in smaller places outside of the city as well. They just keep rising continuously." Regulation needed for short-term lets Housing activist Fionnuala Doyle Wade says the blame lies at the feet of the Government. "The main problem that I would see as an activist and someone that's involved in housing activism is that locals are being pushed out due to short-term lets. There's a huge amount of tourism coming into the city. That's important, we need tourism, but they should not be taking up entire homes," she said. "There's such a short stock, and we're prioritising people coming in for a short time period. We have people coming in who are here for maybe a week or two, living in whole houses, and locals not able to find accommodation with really expensive rents, living in hostels because they can't find anywhere to live. It's a huge problem with students, also with refugees and asylum seekers. "The Government hasn't done their job or due diligence in terms of building enough housing, but also in terms of regulating short-term lets and looking at vacant properties. We have thousands and thousands of vacant properties in this country that are sitting empty. People need to be put into them," added Ms Doyle Wade.
BreakingNews.ie
15-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Persistently high rents in Galway to be investigated amid ‘unusual' trends in data
Persistently high rents in Co Galway will be investigated by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) following "unusual" trends noted in its latest rental index. The RTB said Galway had experienced eight consecutive quarters of high growth in rent prices for new tenancies. The entire county is a rent pressure zone, meaning rents cannot be increased by more than 2 per cent per year. Advertisement A statement from the RTB said it would engage directly with renters, landlords and other rental sector stakeholders in Galway this June to investigate the trend further. It will also host a forum to address rental law compliance. According to the RTB's latest rent index, the average monthly rent for new tenancies in Galway City was €1,730 in the fourth quarter of last year. Nationally, the standardised average rent for new tenancies rose by 5.5 per cent year-on-year to €1,680 in the final three months of 2024. It rose by 4.6 per cent year-on-year for existing tenancies nationally to €1,440 in Q4 2024. The RTB said this was "a moderation" on the rates of rent increases seen earlier in 2024. Advertisement The board also published eight sanctions against landlords based in Galway for breaches of rental law. Seven of those eight landlords in Galway were sanctioned for breaches of rent pressure zone rules and were fined between €200 and €4,400. A further 28 sanctions against landlords nationally were also published by the RTB on Thursday. Ireland Plans for almost 100 new cost rental homes approve... Read More This included a fine of €22,000 against Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd for properties on Lower Leeson Street, Middle Abbey Street and Upper Abbey Street in Dublin for failure to register tenancies. Advertisement Rosemary Steen, director of the RTB, said the sanctions showed the board's commitment to driving compliance with rental law. "The new Rent Index data has flagged unusual patterns of rental inflation in Galway that we are engaging directly with stakeholders in the county to address. Our Compliance and Enforcement team also continues to pursue high-risk offenders through in-depth investigations that yielded €102,490 in sanctions published today." Dr Rachel Slaymaker, research officer with the ESRI, said: "Nationally, the Rent Index shows average rents continue to rise for new and existing tenancies, but the data for the final quarter of 2024 show a clear moderation in the rate of rental price inflation throughout 2024. Despite falling rental inflation for new tenancies nationally though, price rises do remain persistently high in certain counties."
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Galway's persistently high rents to be investigated by RTB following ‘concerning' trends in new data
Persistently high rental prices in new tenancies in Co Galway will be investigated by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) following 'concerning' trends noted in their latest rental index. The RTB published its Director's Quarterly Update for Q2 of 2025 on Thursday, which included the RTB/ESRI rental index to the end of 2024. It found that the average rent for new tenancies across the country rose by 5.5 per cent over the last year, standing at €1,680 per month. This represents a moderation in rental growth, down from 9.1 per cent in 2023. READ MORE The story is similar in terms of existing tenancies, which rose by 4.6 per cent to €1,440, down from a 5.9 per cent rise in 2023. However, in Galway there have been eight consecutive quarters of high growth in new tenancy rent prices. There are also concerns around the registration of tenancies in the county. The RTB says it will 'engage directly with renters, landlords and other stakeholders in the county this June to investigate the trend further'. Further to the persistently high rise in rents in the county, the RTB has also published eight sanctions against landlords based in Galway for breaches of rental law. [ Construction Industry Federation owes €140,000 in derelict levies at €23m site of Dublin 6 terrace collapse Opens in new window ] Seven of those eight landlords in Galway were sanctioned for breaches of Rent Pressure Zones rules and were fined between €200 and €4,400. A Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) is a designated area where rent increases are capped at 2 per cent per year, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Could Ireland's housing crisis kill the Irish language? Listen | 24:05 All areas in Co Galway are designated as Rent Pressure Zones. A further 28 sanctions against landlords nationally were also published by the RTB on Thursday. This includes a fine of €22,000 against Sweet Home Accommodation Ltd for properties on Lower Leeson Street, Middle Abbey Street and Upper Abbey Street in Dublin for failure to register tenancies.
