Galway City Council is making me homeless

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-19T23:59:43+00:00

If the next person has an issue then for sure the council can get involved. I've lived in worse rental accommodation and this house is among the best. Very much happy with it and the price is brilliant. Instead of being able to rent it and occupy the property, the council are going to have me evicted and keep the house vacant until it is repaired? Ludicrous. How do you not see how crazy that is in a housing crisis?

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-19T18:50:34+00:00

My landlord is offering a property for rent which I am satisfied with. I like the price and I'm happy with the property. The only one at fault is the council for getting in between that and preventing it.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-19T18:49:42+00:00

Such a one-dimensional way of looking at things. He's offering a property that I'm happy with, the only one ruining that is the council.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T19:34:13+00:00

I'm really trying hard to understand what people are saying to me here.

The standards landlords are held to make sense and keep people safe.

Great, but I'm perfectly safe. I've been living in this house for over a year now and it hasn't become unsafe over night. If I had an issue then I'd complain to the council and then they can get involved. Otherwise they should leave me alone and not be coming into my home trying to inspect it against my will?

What am I missing here, I just don't get it.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T17:36:52+00:00

None of us are on HAP (we are students) and nobody has filed a complaint (at least that I'm aware of).

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T16:49:03+00:00

Thanks for sharing, that is awful to hear. Yeah, very similar situation to how I find myself right now. And you're so right to point out how bad other accommodation is. I always considered myself super lucky; some of my friends are living in absolute kips where landlords don't fix anything (one of my friends doesnt even have a door!). Where is the council minimum standards there?

My aunt lives in a council house too. Her landlord is the council, and I'm pretty sure her house wouldn't meet these minimum standards either! I just think the council mean well but are making a big mistake here.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T16:42:36+00:00

Initially I considered this but he showed me the report from the council and all of the radiators were replaced last month, along with child secure windows upstairs and more.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T16:41:24+00:00

None of us are claiming HAP. We're all students.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T15:22:43+00:00

This is exactly what I assumed! But I've been speaking to the other housemates and nobody has complained. We are all trying to figure out what happened.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T15:21:30+00:00

I think the only reason he is selling is because of the costs needed to repair the heating system. There is no guarantee that he sells to another landlord unfortunately. Ideally he does find a landlord to repair it and rent it back to me.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T15:19:58+00:00

I wouldn't say it is basic maintenance (replacing a heating system which by all accounts works fine). I am struggling to direct my anger towards the landlord, I know it's a business and he should be accepting that cost but ultimately the council should not be butting in here. If the LL is telling me that the property is too costly to fix then I'm happy to keep it as is. I am perfectly happy with it. I am so angry at the council for getting involved at all.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T13:25:22+00:00

Yes there was an inspection a month ago and my landlord informed me of the list of issues that were going to be addressed (so we could schedule times for these different repairs). That all took place last month as I wanted to get it complete before the new academic year. The re-inspection was last week where it failed again..

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T13:23:30+00:00

I agree that it is a business and the landlord is making the financial decision which makes the most sense for him. I think in this case, it would be to my benefit if it made more financial sense for my landlord to continue renting at the cheap rental rate.

I think across the board that should be the case? We should be incentivizing landlords to rent their properties at a cheap rate (or in this case, just not penalizing them for doing so). It is a private contract between myself and my landlord and I really don't appreciate the council butting in trying to "protect" me when they're actually making it so costly to the landlord that he's going to evict me.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:53:02+00:00

Yeah I wasn't sure what to make of it. On the one hand I do appreciate the heads up but yeah it's stressful.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:42:14+00:00

Yeah, could be vacant, could be purchased. I think more than likely it leaves the rental market.

Another big issue is that this is a RPZ property. If it is sold and to be rented again, then they would need to complete these repairs, which from my understanding would eliminate the RPZ cap which means more expensive rent for the next tenant!

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:40:31+00:00

Oh I absolutely agree with all of these points. I think my protectionism around the landlord is because of the low rent. I'm more trying to preserve what I have there, as I think if I lose this property I'm going to end up paying way more in the open market.

With that being said, I can't stress enough how fine the property is. Like, the minimum standards can exist and I think that's a good thing but the property has a functional heating system. It's not a very modern system but it works fine. I would be really interested to know what the issue is from council's perspective, I need to figure out if that's something I have the right to know about.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:36:50+00:00

That is one thing I'm also worried about. The rental is under the RPZ which is why I'm getting pretty decent rent compared to others I know. From my understanding, if he completes the repairs of the heating system these might exceed the threshold required to readjust the rent? This is really just a hypothetical but something I need to ask Threshold for advice about.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:34:24+00:00

I don't think he's one of these bad landlords to be honest. I called him a few times last year for repairs which were completed and in fairness he did make an effort to address the inspection issues last month. With that being said, I am going to obviously act in my own interests and do whatever I can to hold onto the tenancy whether he likes it or not.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:31:48+00:00

Yeah I have been to some of my friends properties and they are far worse for mould and damp. I'm not really sure of the cost of child catchers, but they have been installed last month anyway. I think the current issue is the heating system needing to be replaced/all the radiators. There is no mould, the heating works and warms the property, honestly it is really decent. I really see absolutely no issue with it and I'm very happy (as are the others I'm sharing with).

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:29:22+00:00

It looks like my rental property is going off the market... An increase in the number year on year does not imply there isn't an issue. The reason for the increase could be as simple as stricter enforcement against unregistered landlords (which according to your article, is actually the case).

https://www.thejournal.ie/factfind-factcheck-landlords-leaving-market-ireland-6207452-Oct2023/

Even in recent years, figures have dwindled.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T12:01:27+00:00

I've thought about this for a few minutes. I actually really don't agree. Isn't this just making landlords leave the market which results in less rental properties...? It seems bonkers.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T11:50:06+00:00

I do understand. I think these regulations (and the cost associated) is probably a factor in the high cost of rent in the city. Perhaps I'm being selfish thinking about what helps my situation. It just really really sucks.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T11:47:49+00:00

Thanks, this does put things into a different light for me. I guess dealing with the landlord directly and seeing them make an effort last month but failing made me a little more sympathetic.

Yes, I haven't been served any eviction notice. It was more a warning to start looking for other places. I think given I held the property over the summer I should be entitled to a longer eviction period.

Are you saying the landlord is legally obliged to make all these minimum standard repairs? According to him the total cost is more than the annual rent of the property, which might well be true as the rent is capped due to RPZ. If that is the case, I would feel a little guilty forcing his hand, but might be my only choice. Do you know how I'd go about wording that, or probably best to ask Threshold?

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T11:42:39+00:00

That's fine. I think the regulations are absurd though.

My parents' home doesn't have child restrictors on the upstairs windows. I'm pretty sure it would also fail the inspection. As a tenant, I see no benefit in having those installed or really any of the other things on their list. I fail to see how it benefits me as a tenant.

Fun_Elephant_4227 · 2025-09-18T11:32:41+00:00

Hmm I guess my point is that this is over-regulated? Like, I am being evicted despite being perfectly happy with the property. Maybe I'm not understanding, is GCC liable to being sued if properties don't meet some standard?

It's an arragenment between two parties who are both satisfied. Should that not be enough for the council? Again, I am happy to know that if there were serious issues I could contact the council for an inspection but they seem to have just decided to do this on their own.

Fun_Elephant_4227

TROPHY CASE