Prime Time: Nightmare to Let RTÉ Investigates

spaceHopper

So who watched it ?
Thee main trends,
1) Exploiting foreign students and workers.

One LL collecting 336000 a year in cash to rent 3 properties, one had 64 people living in it the other two had 48 between them.

2) Treating vulnerable social welfare tenants like dirt
One tenant on HAP wasn't had a working shower in 500+ days flat full of damp and mold, you wouldn't keep a dog in it.

3) CoCo inspetores not ding their jobs, 3 to 5 % of properties inspected every year, so one inspection ever 20 years or so? When majour problems are found no follow up to check issues fixed.

RTE undercover reporter contacted council 4 times over 7 weeks eventually Dublin Fire Brigade inspected can closed it down.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/1102/916956-rental-accommodation/

https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2017/1102/916950-rte-prime-time-court/

https://www.rte.ie/player/gb/show/prime-time-30003251/10797897/

utmbuilder

ah sure its only a few rouge landlords.. the rest are of exemplary character and astute business acumen

Lux23

In fairness, I do think the properties shown were extreme. I know the report said that almost 70% of properties inspected by DCC failed to reach minimum standards but I suspect for the most part it was for breaches that could be fixed easily enough. However, any breaches in fire safety should come with a massive fine or indeed even a custodial sentence for the more egregious offences.

ednwireland

honestly ridiculous, still wondering what if any laws were broken (apart from fire safety regs) talking heads seemed to avoiding the word illegal when commenting.
county council not doing the jobs, spent a big chunk on my rental property and had to meet current building regs (although never inspected) i wouldnt want to rent something i wouldnt live in but thats just me.

altthough wondering where the people renting there will go as there arent properties apart form ones like this for the money they are paying.

cloudatlas

My last flat had green and black mould, damp, mice not to the level of the ones in the program but you can talk to the letting agent till the cows come home. Landlord is king and if they don't want to part with a penny well...

Lux23

We had rats running around our kitchen last year. We ended up blocking off all the entry points ourselves and we stopped keeping a bin inside the property.

pilly

Lux23 wrote: »

We had rats running around our kitchen last year. We ended up blocking off all the entry points ourselves and we stopped keeping a bin inside the property.

So mice and rats are a LL's problem, why?

JohnFalstaff

ednwireland wrote: »

honestly ridiculous, still wondering what if any laws were broken (apart from fire safety regs) talking heads seemed to avoiding the word illegal when commenting.
county council not doing the jobs, spent a big chunk on my rental property and had to meet current building regs (although never inspected) i wouldnt want to rent something i wouldnt live in but thats just me.

altthough wondering where the people renting there will go as there arent properties apart form ones like this for the money they are paying.

That's a good point. If the council closed down these two properties does that mean that roughly another hundred people have been made homeless?

Kivaro

cloudatlas wrote: »

My last flat had green and black mould, damp, mice not to the level of the ones in the program but you can talk to the letting agent till the cows come home. Landlord is king and if they don't want to part with a penny well...

That's not true.

pilly

I was aware before now of dreadful conditions for people renting, particularly young single people. One of my last lodgers was a Brazilian girl who was sharing a room with 3 others for 350 a month so she was thrilled to get her own room for the same money.

This is pure greed and lack of any morality on the part of these particular LL's.

On the other hand I think the emphasis on the programme on the figures eg. 69% of properties failed an inspection were misleading. Bearing in mind that if the council are only inspecting 3 to 5% of properties they are most likely inspecting the ones they've received complaints about this isn't representative of the market.

Problem is the lack of inspections. And it's nothing to do with resources. The council are not building any of their own houses any more, they've very little stock to maintain and yet they've still the same level of staff as they always had.

It's the usual civil service attitude of "I'll do it when I absolutely have to and no quicker". I got a grant for my parents to adapt their bathroom and put in a stair lift because my mother was sleeping in the kitchen. I was told it would take at least 12 weeks, they got it done in 3 because I rang them every single day. It does not take 12 weeks to do any kind of paperwork and that's all it is is paperwork. Sheer laziness that's no bred into them.

nilescraneo

pilly wrote: »

So mice and rats are a LL's problem, why?

Because it's a defect with their property? the property they are being handsomely renumerated for renting out. Landlords are always banging on about having no rights and playing the poor mouth when it suits them, but when it's something they are responsible for they run a mile. Sickening attitude.

Graham

Mod Note: Enough with the sweeping generalisations of landlords or tenants.

McGrath5

Watched it.

Horrifying conditions for those tenants in the overcrowded properties, that "landlord" for want of a better term is an absolute scumbag.
I wonder if he is tax compliant :rolleyes: I would love to see the boys and girls from Revenue doing a full audit on him.

handlemaster

Would be Nice to see the other side for a change. There's to much of the bad landlord stereotyping

elperello

ednwireland wrote: »

honestly ridiculous, still wondering what if any laws were broken (apart from fire safety regs) talking heads seemed to avoiding the word illegal when commenting.
county council not doing the jobs, spent a big chunk on my rental property and had to meet current building regs (although never inspected) i wouldnt want to rent something i wouldnt live in but thats just me.

altthough wondering where the people renting there will go as there arent properties apart form ones like this for the money they are paying.

I thought it was an excellent piece of reporting.
You are obviously a good LL but there are some bad ones out there.

jimmycrackcorm

I would love to find out what RTE would suggest where the 40 tenants living on one house would be going after the expose.

I also once had a mouse in my house, I got a mouse trap. But as it was my own house, I didn't have any recourse to get anyone else to do it for me.

pilly

nilescraneo wrote: »

Because it's a defect with their property? the property they are being handsomely renumerated for renting out. Landlords are always banging on about having no rights and playing the poor mouth when it suits them, but when it's something they are responsible for they run a mile. Sickening attitude.

Mice and rats are not a property defect, nothing to do the property.

I speak as both a LL and a tenant. I've had mice in the place I rent because it's behind a wild field and I've dealt with them. Should I have rung the LL and told him that the field had to be gotten rid of?

Unbelievable what people think is someone elses' responsibility.

DubCount

I watched it. A few things struck me.
- When you look at what some people are paying to live in, were Bedsits really such a poor option? I'm not for lowering standards, but there must be a better solution for the "lower end of the market". Bring back bedsits might provide a better solution for the tenants involved.
- To say 60-70% of inspections failed is a misleading statistic. I reckon the CoCo's are only inspecting properties where there has been a complaint, so its not surprising there is a high failure rate. I dont have a problem with the CoCo's only inspecting properties where there is a complaint. That seems like a sensible use of scarce resources.
- the CoCo's not responding to complaints is incredible. Its one thing if they dont know how bad a property is, but not responding when a complaint is made is hard to understand.

pilly

handlemaster wrote: »

Would be Nice to see the other side for a change. There's to much of the bad landlord stereotyping

There's a UK programme called Slum Landlords and Nightmare Tenants, be nice to see something like that on Irish television but mainstream media don't want to be seen to condemn the so called "disadvantaged".

elperello

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I would love to find out what RTE would suggest where the 40 tenants living on one house would be going after the expose.

I also once had a mouse in my house, I got a mouse trap. But as it was my own house, I didn't have any recourse to get anyone else to do it for me.

I would suggest that those young people would be better of going home to their families than staying here to be exploited.

There can be defects in properties that cause rodent infestation.

pilly

elperello wrote: »

I would suggest that those young people would be better of going home to their families than staying here to be exploited.

There can be defects in properties that cause rodent infestation.

For example?

elperello

pilly wrote: »

There's a UK programme called Slum Landlords and Nightmare Tenants, be nice to see something like that on Irish television but mainstream media don't want to be seen to condemn the so called "disadvantaged".

That could be an interesting subject for another programme.

There are genuinely disadvantaged people who deserve our help.

elperello

pilly wrote: »

For example?

Badly sealed drains or pipes
Poorly fitted doors and windows
Lack of hygienic food storage facilities
Poor hygiene in other tenants rooms

Meanwhile DCC councilor clowns are worrying about flying flags over City hall

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/city-council-committee-vote-in-favour-of-flying-catalan-flag-over-city-hall-36283499.html

spaceHopper

I'm sort of a LL, my father had house in flats and since he passed away I help my mother run it.

Dad put the a lot of money into bringing the house up to code. Double fire slabbed the ceilings, fire doors, fire alarm, new windows..... it was inspected once by the DCC and passed. Why bother if others are allowed to get away with is crap. Why do a tax return, why keep the place clean, fix things... This year I've had two flats painted, a wall plastered where the last tennant blocked the chimney which caused damp destroying the plaster work. All in all about 3000 euros.

Why bother sure we'd never be caught and if we were nothing would happen. We bother because we now have good tenants and it's the right thing to do.

But the government and DCC have to keep their end of bargen. Hammer the cowboys, end the RPZ it's cause many more problems than it's solved. Build or rent social housing but they are responsible for it when a tenant goes bad not the LL.

mad m

DubCount wrote: »

- the CoCo's not responding to complaints is incredible. Its one thing if they dont know how bad a property is, but not responding when a complaint is made is hard to understand.

Fair enough if there is HAP involved council should get involved, but why would council be responsible or asked to comment on the extreme examples last night in show, they were private and nothing to do with the council.

cloudatlas

pilly wrote: »

Mice and rats are not a property defect, nothing to do the property.

I speak as both a LL and a tenant. I've had mice in the place I rent because it's behind a wild field and I've dealt with them. Should I have rung the LL and told him that the field had to be gotten rid of?

Unbelievable what people think is someone elses' responsibility.

False, if the problem is caused by disrepair, for example, if mice or rats are coming in through holes in the walls or leaking plumbing is causing damp conditions which encourage to cockroaches, you should report this to your landlord as soon as possible. You can also report it to the council and they can intervene.

Claw Hammer

mad m wrote: »

Fair enough if there is HAP involved council should get involved, but why would council be responsible or asked to comment on the extreme examples last night in show, they were private and nothing to do with the council.

The council is responsible for inspecting rented dwellings.How did this occur without the council becoming aware of it? What is the council doing to detect other instances of this type of activity? Of course the council should be asked to comment.

Human Sausage

ednwireland wrote: »

altthough wondering where the people renting there will go as there arent properties apart form ones like this for the money they are paying.

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I would love to find out what RTE would suggest where the 40 tenants living on one house would be going after the expose.

Exactly! These people should be glad they have the opportunity to be exploited!

Fuck sake... Maybe ye should be talking about why people are living in these conditions rather than wringing hands about keeping them there.

Cunning Stunt

elperello wrote: »

Badly sealed drains or pipes
Poorly fitted doors and windows
Lack of hygienic food storage facilities
Poor hygiene in other tenants rooms

am living in denmark where, if you have a rat problem on your property, the council are obliged to come and deal with it as they say that the majority of rat problems in town areas are due to open or broken sewer piping in the near vicinity.

spaceHopper

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I would love to find out what RTE would suggest where the 40 tenants living on one house would be going after the expose.

Yea I feel sorry for them but if there is a fire may of them would die and there would be some international outcry if that happened and rightly so.