Rental market close to HAP-less

Just 17 properties on the Northside were available to rent within standard or discretionary HAP limits in June according to a report published last week.

The latest quarterly Simon Communities’ Locked out of the Market report found that during a three-day study period from June 17-19 there were only a handful of HAP properties suitable for families from an average of 179 properties available to rent.

The snapshot study is designed to reflect the experience of people with access to HAP support trying to find a home to rent.

The basic rates of HAP haven’t been reviewed since 2016 Dublin City Council’s standard HAP rates are €1,250 for an adult with a child, but there is also flexibility, on a case-by-case basis, to apply a discretionary rate of up to an additional 50 percent.

However, some landlords are becoming more reluctant to take on HAP tenants as it makes it difficult to let their properties out at market rates.

“I have a good tenant so I’m reluctant to increase the rent,” one landlord letting a property in Finglas told Northside People.

“Most of the rent is paid directly through HAP, which is great, but I’m aware my tenant is struggling to raise a child and I don’t want to add pressure to her situation. If I increase the rent, even within rent pressure zone limits, the tenant will have to make up the difference, not HAP.

“That means I’m not getting the market rate for the property and while as a small landlord I can live with that, big landlords with multiple properties running as a business might take a different view.”

The Locked Out of the Market report shows an increase in the number of properties available to rent nationwide through HAP since March of this year.

However, there are still only 43 HAP properties in the entire country, with none at all in ten of the 16 areas surveyed.Simon Communities say the latest report comes in the context of a private rental market characterized by unaffordability, volatility, and an overall lack of supply.

According to the Daft.ie Rental Report for the first three months of the year, market rents in Dublin were on average 2.5 percent higher than a year previously. The average listed rent was €2,395, up 25 percent from the level prevailing when the covid 19 pandemic occurred in 2011.

The Simon Communities of Ireland say rents for new tenancies are 16 percent higher than for existing tenancies, a trend they describe as “concerning”. They are also concerned over the large numbers of households receiving eviction notices.

According to RTB Notices of Termination Data, 3,594 Dublin households received eviction notices in the first six months of the year.“

For households reliant on HAP, these issues are especially pronounced,” the report reads. “The prospect of finding a rental property within HAP limits remains extremely difficult.

HAP households are increasingly being forced to pay additional ‘top-up’ payments directly to their landlord. This is on top of the rent they are paying to their local authority.”

The RTB’s Rental Survey report last year highlighted how the proportion of tenants reliant on rental assistance having to make a top-up payment to their landlord has increased from 66 percent in 2019/2020 to 88 percent in 2022/2023. The average top-up payment increased
from €255 to €284 over the same period.