Rent arrears owed by Dublin City Council’s social housing tenants have hit almost €38 million, their highest ever level and a €4 million increase since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
In December 2021, just over 64 per cent of the council’s 25,000 tenants were in arrears on their rent. While about half were behind in their payments by less than €500, 41 had racked up debts of more than €27,000 each through years of arrears.
At the end of 2019, the council was owed €33,729,994 in unpaid rents. At the end of last year that had increased to €37,895,467.
Council rents are based on ability to pay with tenants charged 15 per cent of the principal earner’s income, plus a maximum of €21 a week per “subsidiary earner”, usually adult children living with their parents. The council’s average weekly rent charge is €71.09 or €309 per month.
Tenants are required to tell the council if their financial circumstances change, ie if they get a job or a pay rise, but Tara Robertson of the council’s housing department said a significant number don’t. “If income decreases people tell us, but when it increases that’s not as likely.”
In 2009, €19.5 million was owed to the council but Ms Robertson said an assessment “post Celtic Tiger” showed “ people hadn’t been declaring quite significant incomes”.
The council undertakes to assess its tenants circumstances every two years, and where incomes have been underdeclared it applies “retrospective debits” to recoup money owed.
The council had been “at the mercy of the tenants in employment to advise us when their income changed”, she said. However, since 2020 it has had access to tenants’ income details through the Local Authority Verification Application system, developed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This meant rent charges could be accurately applied which was “very beneficial to us and the tenant”, she said.
The council had an early intervention policy in relation to arrears which was “quite effective” she said. “The more money people owe the harder it is to make inroads into the arrears.”
Where the tenant showed a “wilful disregard of the obligation to pay” the council would seek the “ultimate sanction of repossession”.
Deeply unfair
The council secured 12 repossession orders in the courts last year, nine of which were still “live” she said, while three “lump sum settlements” of €30,500 in total were made. However, there were no evictions.
Independent Cllr Noeleen Reilly said it was her experience that tenants “don’t feel there is an urgency” to pay their rent arrears “unlike other bills they might be in arrears with”.
Labour Cllr Dermot Lacey said it was “deeply unfair to the people who do pay their rent” when others appeared to get away with not paying.
Mr Lacey said he grew up in a council house and “the notion that my parents wouldn’t have paid the rent would never have arisen. No matter what, there was that sense of responsibility and it is that lessening of responsibility and attachment that is at the root of this problem.”
Fine Gael’s Paddy McCartan noted the council’s rents were significantly lower than tenants paid in the private sector.
That almost 1½ water rafting facilities
When you make it optional this is what happens.
Why I’m now pro tax evasion for the middle class.
Very frustrating unfortunately. There are people who genuinely need these homes and can’t afford to pay much but there are a lot of absolute chancers as well who are getting away with paying very little.
64% being in arrears is shocking but not surprising when there are very limited repercussions for not paying.
There are clear flaws within the system too – i.e. a maximum of €21 per week per adult child living with their parents. You could have a young person of 25 living at home earning €30/40k being assessed in this manner. Obviously if they aren’t working €80 a month is a lot but it’s pittance if they are.
This has been a growing problem for years and nobody has tackled it. I know the automatic answer will be “SF need to get into government” but SF ran DCC for years and the arrears grew and they managed to evict one person during that time.
This money could be used to build houses and also improve the quality of current houses.
The answer is simple to this and should be implemented straight away, the rent gets taken at source. People on job seekers etc are given their money and then DCC goes looking for rent to be told it is all spent. Kind of stupid in my opinion.
The council is legally obliged to provide a home under EU regulations. So if a tenant is abusive violent and doesn’t pay rent the council can only move them.
Tell them they are being moved to a council home in Leitrim due to the arrears. They won’t be long finding the means to pay then.
If someone is on welfare and owe money to the council, could that welfare just not be reduced to pay back the debt?
Likewise for someone working, just take it from the pay?
Maybe I’m thinking far too simply but when Revenue want money off me for an overcharge or whatever, they take it, not much you can do about it.
38m owed by 25k tenants, that’s €1500 each roughly? Less when 41 tenants owe more than 27k?
Sounds bad but probably a months rent unless I’m missing something?
Edit: 5 months rent it seems at 309 a month
People who actually pay must feel like saps when they read headlines like this.
And people wonder why landlords and developers are against building social housing, if you dont even pay your 30 quid a week to live in dublin whats the point.
This is very very common. In the council I work in I always see people coming in who are 10-15k+ in arrears.
[deleted]
Does anyone commenting not think that it’s because the price of properties are so extortionately high that people are simply getting to the point where they can’t afford to pay.
Now before some fuckwit starts harping on at me, I’ve never missed a bill. But things have gone so insane in the rental and housing markets. As far as I’m concerned it’s completely morally bankrupt to charge the prices that landlords and sellers are. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
I can easily envisage people getting to a point where they simply can’t afford to live and if they pay rent won’t have money for anything else.
And yes I also know there’s people out there who just wouldn’t pay, but most of those cunts are usually getting houses off the government for free anyway so I can’t see how they would be anymore of a problem then usual.
They ask so little of them and still they won’t pay.
>Independent Cllr Noeleen Reilly said it was her experience that tenants “don’t feel there is an urgency” to pay their rent arrears “unlike other bills they might be in arrears with”.
Well, duh. If I thought I’d get away with not paying my rent I’d do it too.
>41 had racked up debts of more than €27,000 each through years of arrears.
These 41 should be turfed out on their hole. People who are playing ball should be in those units, not the scroungers.
Why can’t they evict the non payers and move in people from the waiting list who are willing to pay? Seems like a win win
I think when it gets to the point that 64% of council tenants are in arrears, you have to think that something is going wrong with the system. That’s much more likely than the idea that 64% of people are just feckless. The fact that the arrears have risen so much during Covid is very telling. I think most people are very grateful to have their council homes and would do anything to keep them, but a lot of people are likely to be struggling to keep their head above water the last two years, even with government help.
19 comments
Rent arrears owed by Dublin City Council’s social housing tenants have hit almost €38 million, their highest ever level and a €4 million increase since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
In December 2021, just over 64 per cent of the council’s 25,000 tenants were in arrears on their rent. While about half were behind in their payments by less than €500, 41 had racked up debts of more than €27,000 each through years of arrears.
At the end of 2019, the council was owed €33,729,994 in unpaid rents. At the end of last year that had increased to €37,895,467.
Council rents are based on ability to pay with tenants charged 15 per cent of the principal earner’s income, plus a maximum of €21 a week per “subsidiary earner”, usually adult children living with their parents. The council’s average weekly rent charge is €71.09 or €309 per month.
Tenants are required to tell the council if their financial circumstances change, ie if they get a job or a pay rise, but Tara Robertson of the council’s housing department said a significant number don’t. “If income decreases people tell us, but when it increases that’s not as likely.”
In 2009, €19.5 million was owed to the council but Ms Robertson said an assessment “post Celtic Tiger” showed “ people hadn’t been declaring quite significant incomes”.
The council undertakes to assess its tenants circumstances every two years, and where incomes have been underdeclared it applies “retrospective debits” to recoup money owed.
The council had been “at the mercy of the tenants in employment to advise us when their income changed”, she said. However, since 2020 it has had access to tenants’ income details through the Local Authority Verification Application system, developed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This meant rent charges could be accurately applied which was “very beneficial to us and the tenant”, she said.
The council had an early intervention policy in relation to arrears which was “quite effective” she said. “The more money people owe the harder it is to make inroads into the arrears.”
Where the tenant showed a “wilful disregard of the obligation to pay” the council would seek the “ultimate sanction of repossession”.
Deeply unfair
The council secured 12 repossession orders in the courts last year, nine of which were still “live” she said, while three “lump sum settlements” of €30,500 in total were made. However, there were no evictions.
Independent Cllr Noeleen Reilly said it was her experience that tenants “don’t feel there is an urgency” to pay their rent arrears “unlike other bills they might be in arrears with”.
Labour Cllr Dermot Lacey said it was “deeply unfair to the people who do pay their rent” when others appeared to get away with not paying.
Mr Lacey said he grew up in a council house and “the notion that my parents wouldn’t have paid the rent would never have arisen. No matter what, there was that sense of responsibility and it is that lessening of responsibility and attachment that is at the root of this problem.”
Fine Gael’s Paddy McCartan noted the council’s rents were significantly lower than tenants paid in the private sector.
That almost 1½ water rafting facilities
When you make it optional this is what happens.
Why I’m now pro tax evasion for the middle class.
Very frustrating unfortunately. There are people who genuinely need these homes and can’t afford to pay much but there are a lot of absolute chancers as well who are getting away with paying very little.
64% being in arrears is shocking but not surprising when there are very limited repercussions for not paying.
There are clear flaws within the system too – i.e. a maximum of €21 per week per adult child living with their parents. You could have a young person of 25 living at home earning €30/40k being assessed in this manner. Obviously if they aren’t working €80 a month is a lot but it’s pittance if they are.
This has been a growing problem for years and nobody has tackled it. I know the automatic answer will be “SF need to get into government” but SF ran DCC for years and the arrears grew and they managed to evict one person during that time.
This money could be used to build houses and also improve the quality of current houses.
The answer is simple to this and should be implemented straight away, the rent gets taken at source. People on job seekers etc are given their money and then DCC goes looking for rent to be told it is all spent. Kind of stupid in my opinion.
The council is legally obliged to provide a home under EU regulations. So if a tenant is abusive violent and doesn’t pay rent the council can only move them.
Tell them they are being moved to a council home in Leitrim due to the arrears. They won’t be long finding the means to pay then.
If someone is on welfare and owe money to the council, could that welfare just not be reduced to pay back the debt?
Likewise for someone working, just take it from the pay?
Maybe I’m thinking far too simply but when Revenue want money off me for an overcharge or whatever, they take it, not much you can do about it.
38m owed by 25k tenants, that’s €1500 each roughly? Less when 41 tenants owe more than 27k?
Sounds bad but probably a months rent unless I’m missing something?
Edit: 5 months rent it seems at 309 a month
People who actually pay must feel like saps when they read headlines like this.
And people wonder why landlords and developers are against building social housing, if you dont even pay your 30 quid a week to live in dublin whats the point.
This is very very common. In the council I work in I always see people coming in who are 10-15k+ in arrears.
[deleted]
Does anyone commenting not think that it’s because the price of properties are so extortionately high that people are simply getting to the point where they can’t afford to pay.
Now before some fuckwit starts harping on at me, I’ve never missed a bill. But things have gone so insane in the rental and housing markets. As far as I’m concerned it’s completely morally bankrupt to charge the prices that landlords and sellers are. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
I can easily envisage people getting to a point where they simply can’t afford to live and if they pay rent won’t have money for anything else.
And yes I also know there’s people out there who just wouldn’t pay, but most of those cunts are usually getting houses off the government for free anyway so I can’t see how they would be anymore of a problem then usual.
They ask so little of them and still they won’t pay.
>Independent Cllr Noeleen Reilly said it was her experience that tenants “don’t feel there is an urgency” to pay their rent arrears “unlike other bills they might be in arrears with”.
Well, duh. If I thought I’d get away with not paying my rent I’d do it too.
>41 had racked up debts of more than €27,000 each through years of arrears.
These 41 should be turfed out on their hole. People who are playing ball should be in those units, not the scroungers.
Why can’t they evict the non payers and move in people from the waiting list who are willing to pay? Seems like a win win
I think when it gets to the point that 64% of council tenants are in arrears, you have to think that something is going wrong with the system. That’s much more likely than the idea that 64% of people are just feckless. The fact that the arrears have risen so much during Covid is very telling. I think most people are very grateful to have their council homes and would do anything to keep them, but a lot of people are likely to be struggling to keep their head above water the last two years, even with government help.