Draw Breath

Great news for all potential flat dwellers if all new minimum standards for rented accommodation  listed in today's Irish Times are realised.  It does come as a bit of a surprise, however, that these new standards are an enhanced version of standards issued fifteen years ago. It's the first that I and possibly most other students of the Nineties have heard of it.  

My own Dublin flat renting lasted for a period of around 10 years and the hallmark of practically all dwellings was that they were dilapidated. What's more, we queued for the privilege. On one occasion, I was fortunate enough to spot an ad in Irish in the evening paper for bedsits off the South Circular Road. There was still a sizeable queue. The best thing about one particular bedsit was that the water immersion tank was in a cupboard in my room, so whenever the meter was cranked up a bit of extra heat was generated. This was needed, given the cracks in both windows and the hole in the ceiling. In another, the landlord reliably informed me that the heavy creatures I could hear hurtling alongside the water pipes at night were simply little field mice coming in from the cold! Family members have had equally insane experiences;  one person cooked out of a cupboard for two years, another had a chipboard structure cum bathroom bang in the middle of her only room. I have often wondered since why we weren't even half tempted to complain.  The reality of the situation was that there was very little choice until the late Nineties; it was squalor or nothing on a tight budget.

As students, we at least had the hope that one day the standard of our accomodation would move on to another level. However, for a large number of Irish people on low wages and newly arrived immigrants, there is no such reality in the Ireland of today. Furthermore, while the sub-standard dwellings of the nineteen nineties were reasonably cheap (stangely enough, given the demand), today's newspapers and online ads carry hefty rents for addresses which are still, patently, as run-down as ever.

So, here's hoping that in the very near future all rented bathrooms will be “provided in a room separate from other rooms by a wall and door and containing separate ventilation”, that heating will consist of “fixed appliances capable of providing effective heating and proper ventilation”, and that the facade and common areas of rented accomodation will “be clean and well maintained”. If not, let's hope the flat dwellers of today are more aware of their rights and less afraid of pursuing them.