Ten Students Evicted With Four Hours Notice

'whoop it up for liberty' sez wag 'name and shame'

From the Newswire: Ten students were evicted from their house last night, with four hours notice, following a request for their washing machine to be fixed.

The landlord is well known to DIT Students’ Union, and other local Students’ Unions, who were involved in a claim against her just four weeks ago. The students had repeatedly asked for the repairs to be carried out and following a written request, the landlord gave the students less than a day to pack up and leave.

DIT Students’ Union Vice President Sharon Hughes was contacted by 2 of the DIT students and called to the address, where she assisted the students. Students were attempting to pack their belongings while the landlord accused various parties of trespassing and threatened not to return the students' deposits.

All lights in the house were turned off while students were trying to remove their belongings from the premises, with one girl tripping in the blackness. Sharon Hughes called two Gardaí from Whitehall station to the scene. The Gardaí had no comment to make on the legality of any of the landlords actions.

When the housing organisation Threshold was contacted by the students, it advised them that the landlord could be acting illegally. One of the remaining tenants said "I had no problems with any of the students, I would stand by all of them". The students currently study in DIT, DCU and St. Pats College.

A delegation from the Union of Students’ in Ireland made little impact on the situation, with USI President, Ben Archibald, unable to persuade the landlord to reconsider her decision.

The students’ lease was due to run until May 2005. Temporary B&B accommodation and other arrangements were made for all the evicted students by the various Students’ Unions.

Sharon Hughes, DIT Students’ Union Vice President said:
“A situation where 10 students find themselves homeless at the whim of a landlord is totally unacceptable. If I hadn’t witnessed the events of the day, I wouldn’t have believed this kind of thing still happens. The landlord deemed 4 hours notice “reasonable”. Most people would think differently. The only solution seems to take students out of the un-regulated private rented sector.”

Jarlath Molloy, DIT Students’ Union President said:
“These events serve to highlight the continuing problems faced by students trying to secure rented accommodation in Dublin. We call on the Government to expand the Section 50 tax exemption and put more resources into providing purpose built student accommodation."