Northside flats slammed as ‘slums’

A NEW study has shone more unfavourable light on the substandard condition of some privately rented flats in Dublin.

The latest study, carried out for Dublin City Council by Paul Kelly of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, focused on areas densely populated by pre-

’63 flats, including the North Circular Road and Cabra Park in Dublin 7.

Pre-’63 flats are found in buildings divided into multiple units before planning rules introduced in 1963. Since then property owners are obliged to seek permission to divide an older building into rental units.

But the new study revealed that only four per cent of properties surveyed on North Circular Road had ever been the subject of planning permission and just over a quarter were registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, as required by law.

In Cabra Park the average area of some one bedroom flats was as low as 20 sq mt, or just 40 per cent of the minimum requirement under Dublin City Council and Department of the Environment rules.

The study comes on the back of last month’s inspection report into slum conditions in the city’s private rented sector. Carried out by Dublin City Council, it revealed that as many as nine out of 10 flats inspected were unfit for habitation.

In the report, which was carried out by the council at a cost of e1 million, funded by the Department of the Environment, 1,400 out of almost 1,500 flats failed to meet minimum legal standards.

Problems included unsafe electrics, a lack of private bathrooms, no windows, damp, mould and poor heating.

Dublin North West TD Dessie Ellis (SF) said he wasn’t surprised by the findings in both reports.

“I have known for a long time that there were some incredibly poor, cramped and illegal conditions in Dublin,

? he explained.

“You only need to take a walk around some of the older parts of Dublin and see up to eight doorbells on some modestly sized buildings.

“The reason these slums exist is the failure of successive governments to provide housing.

“There is massive demand for affordable housing as rents rise. The State has failed and unscrupulous slumlords have stepped in to fill that need.

“The Government needs to get serious about building social housing, delivering NAMA housing and services like the Residential Tenancies Board which receives no State funding. Otherwise this problem will continue and get worse.

?

Dublin Central TD Pascal Donohoe (FG), whose constituency includes a significant amount of rented flats, described the statistics from the council inspections as

“startling

?.

“They carried out 2,230 inspections on these 1,499 properties – in other words, some were inspected more than once,

? he said.

“The council has been forced to issue 1,544 legal notices to landlords requiring them to upgrade the standard of accommodation provided.

“I have been in some of these flats, which are inhabited by constituents and neighbours of mine, and the standards in a small number of them have been deplorable.

?

Meanwhile, Deputy Ellis, who is Sinn Fein spokesperson on housing, said that despite the nationwide property boom during the Celtic Tiger era, Government policies had failed those looking to put an affordable roof over their heads.

“The Government’s failure to tackle this problem has allowed needs to grow, rents to rise, conditions to deteriorate and savvy landlords to make profits in the absence of public provision,

? he continued.

“The depletion of our housing stock, the over reliance on the voluntary sector and the drive to subsidise private landlords and developers providing below standard housing at a very high price are not new policies, but they are being happily pursued by this Government.

?

According to Dublin City Council, there are just under 20,000 people on the housing list.