Andrew Matthews / PA images Andrew Matthews / PA images / PA images

IT SEEMS THAT the hotly debated topic of rent in Dublin and around the rest of the country isn’t going away any time soon.

This week a report by property website Daft.ie found that rents have continued to rise.

And if that isn’t enough Celtic Tiger-esque news,  it seems that building developers and local authorities are still involved in the well-worn boom-time practice of cash payments serving in lieu of an obligation to build social housing

The Big Movers

Councils paying developers 

It emerged on Monday that some local authorities around the country had been accepting payments from developers in lieu of building social housing.

This mechanism is facilitated under planning legislation known as ‘Part V’. In the case of Fingal County Council  in Dublin, four agreements had been reached with developers under the legislation totalling €1.57 million.

Social housing in Dublin Niall Carson / PA Wires Niall Carson / PA Wires / PA Wires

South Dublin County Council also availed of the scheme. There had been calls from some politicians that the money raised by the payments should be reinvested into social housing.

Rent increases

The Rent Report released by Daft.ie this week has found an increase of 16.6% in rents over the last year. The average rent in the capital now sits at €1,372.

daft.ie daft.ie

Demand still continues to outstrip supply in the market. Year on year, rents were also up in Cork (7.9%), Galway (7.2%), Limerick (6.4%) and Waterford (4.5%).

Author of the Daft Report and economist with TCD, Ronan Lyons, said that the rent increases around the rest of the country were roughly in line with inflation.

Danske and disorderly 

Danske Bank has been caught up in some controversy this week over debts owed by two directors of Panshire Ltd, a building company that the Revenue claim owe €2.2 million in unpaid VAT.

This was reported in The Irish Times on Monday.

PA ARCHIVE IMAGES / Paul Faith PA ARCHIVE IMAGES / Paul Faith / Paul Faith

The bank is accused of manipulating the finances of the building company to its own advantage and to the disadvantage of the Revenue.

Under construction

• A US billionaire has been buying up loads of Irish hotels. The 73-year-old recently bought the Limerick Strand Hotel next to the Shannon River. 
• UK pub chain Wetherspoon’s has announced that it will be buying up the Light Nightclub in Blanchardstown. 
• Lack of broadband connectivity has for a long time been the bane of rural Ireland. Last year only 67% of households had access to a broadband connection. The issue has been shown to impact on house prices significantly. 
•  Dublin City Council and Intel are placing a number of sensors around the city to make it ‘smarter’. But this doesn’t come without a few concerns. 
• Seven people, including a businessman and his solicitor, were sentenced after admitting to £1.5 million in mortgage fraud. 

The 42-storey 'Tour Triangle' would be first sky scraper built in Paris since 1974. TourTriangleParis TourTriangleParis

• Paris authorities this week voted to reject plans for a 180-metre high triangle-shaped skyscraper.
• This week, new photographs give us a look inside Dublin’s last great Georgian mansion.

• Got a load of broken bits and pieces lying around your house? Why not bring them to a repair cafe.  

Des res

Have you got £11.1 million (€13.86 million) going spare? Well, you’ll be pleased to know that you’re able to afford the largest private house in the UK. The Wentworth Woodhouse comes with 90 acres of parkland and a chandalier that is too big to be removed.

The house even comes with a bear pit and at one time employed a full-time bear keeper.