MINISTER FOR FURTHER and Higher Education Patrick O’Donovan has said legislation that will effectively ban 51-week leases by student accommodation providers is a “big win for students from the countryside”. 

He added: “Country students usually return home for the summer months to work on farms or in local businesses. It is unthinkable to me that they would be forced to pay rent for accommodation they have no use for. That’s why this legislation is so important.”

However, the issue of 51-week leases has been confined to purpose-built student accommodation providers which according to available data, is predominantly leased by international students.

In a statement today, the Minister welcomed the fact that he has received approval to publish the bill that will outlaw the practice.

The bill aims to deal with the issue of purpose-built student accommodation providers charging students rent to stay beyond term times, which was highlighted earlier this year.

It is not a practice that has been undertaken by university-owned accommodation providers.

Social Democrats education spokesperson Gary Gannon described the practice as “a tactic imposed by vulture landlords to pipe a few extra thousand euros out of struggling students and their families who are already paying extortionate amounts for rent”.

These purpose-built private providers notably charge very high rents and as a result, it has been documented that it is often international students who are sustaining the private purpose-built market.

According to Knight Frank, the average price for new purpose-built student accommodation is €265 per week in Dublin City, or €1,060 a month. 

Research from 2019 showed that 80% of those living in purpose-built student accommodation in Dublin City were international students.  

No official data is collected by the Department of Further and Higher Education. 

Data exclusively obtained by The Journal shows that for the 2023-24 academic year, of approximately 400 students in one Dublin location, 59% were international students.

Speaking to The Journal, Sinn Féin’s higher education spokesperson Mairéad Farrell said the reality is this type of accommodation is “extremely expensive” and is mainly utilised by international students.

She said the Department and the Minister should look at developing better data collection for the sector as a whole and added: “But the reality here is that the Government’s student strategy has been to increase the amount of student accommodation delivered by vulture funds”.

“We now see in Dublin, for example, that they own more student accommodation than the universities themselves.

“This has priced people out of living in student accommodation and that is why so many students are now living in digs accommodation or commuting extremely long distances,” Farrell said.

Under the amended legislation – which the Government now expects to have enacted in the coming weeks – student accommodation contracts will follow the traditional September to May (up to 41 weeks) academic year, unless a student requests a tenancy longer than 41 weeks.

Farrell said today that while she welcomed the legislation she questioned what will happen to the students who have already signed 51-week leases for the upcoming academic term. 

“It’s my understanding from the legislation, that they will not be covered,” she said.

Tonight, the Dáil will debate legislation being brought forward by Farrell which seeks to give students living in digs greater protections. This includes the right to lock their bedroom doors. 

The Government is not going to oppose the bill.

Earlier this year, The Journal reported that some students in Dublin were told they need to pay on average €3,000 more per year for their accommodation because private accommodation providers were extending their leases beyond term time. 

In February, then-Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris committed to amending legislation to crack down on the practice.