Residents living in 'freezing' Waterford rental units
Tenants have complained about cold, damp conditions living in rental accommodation.
Sinn Féin Councillor Joeanne Bailey spoke about the issue of rental accommodation falling short of minimum standards. According to Cllr Bailey, tenants are living in damp, cold conditions due to weak, single-glazed windows.
At a recent meeting, she said: "The minimum rental standard that is set down by the Housing Department doesn’t go far enough to make that home 100% liveable for the tenant. Reading the minimum rental standard by the RTB, there is no mention of windows. As long as there is a window single-glazed in the property, it is covered under the standard. Tenants are living in cold, damp properties due to the single-glazed windows in them."
She said: "The council are not responsible to change the windows, they don’t own the property, but it’s our tenants that are struggling to stay warm and heat their home. One lady who was in contact with me said she doesn’t know how she is going to face another winter."
Cllr Bailey asked for solutions, including writing letters to landlords about the issues raised by tenants.
She said: "Can we explain to landlords that there are grants available to home owners to upgrade their houses? Can this topic be discussed at the housing SPC as we have a responsibility to the tenants and more needs to be done around the minimum standards set down by the department."
Senior Executive Officer Donal Ó Murchadha said: "We might get some information about that [...] but we have restrictions in terms of ownership of what we can dictate to landlords."
