‘I’D LIKE MY OWN FRONT DOOR’
| Author | Jennifer O'Connell |
| Published date | 10 April 2021 |
A year into the pandemic, however, the sense among Ireland's new Generation Rent - professionals in the kind of jobs that once would have allowed them to buy a home in their 20s or 30, but who find themselves reluctant long-term renters - is that little has changed.
For this Irish Times article, six people took part in a virtual "roundtable" discussion on Zoom, on the highs and lows of renting in Ireland.
The participants:
- Housemates Laura Costello and Sharon Teeling (both 27) recently moved to Waterford from Galway after coming under pressure from their landlord to move out when they requested repairs to their rental apartment. Teeling, a character designer with an animation company, moved to Ireland from South Africa four years ago and is still reeling at the cost of renting here. "It's crazy that you need to spend 80 per cent of your salary just renting," she says.
- Dónal Crotty (40) bought a home when he was 28, but after his marriage ended he returned to renting and has been doing so for eight years. He lives with his partner and their three-year-old son and runs littlewhitebull.ie, an online retail venture. "I had been working in finance and real estate for 15 years. I was unfortunately made redundant as a result of the impact that Covid had on the business that I was working for," he says.
- Siobhán Nic Fhlannchadha (31) is a research manager in education who has been renting in Dublin for 12 years. Her rental history includes two addresses in on-campus accommodation, five experiences of renting with strangers, one with a former partner, and a month spent homeless in a friend's spare room.
- Alice Jago (32) is a recently qualified solicitor who is currently unemployed and has been renting for 14 years in Dublin, Cork and Galway. She is in a house share with her partner and four others in Dublin, but they plan to move into a rental on their own in May.
- Gearóid Kelly (30) has been renting for 12 years, seven of them in Galway and five in Dublin. He is currently sharing a house in Islandbridge, Dublin. His experience of renting has been broadly positive, but "when I look back, what I've spent in rent over the years would equate to a deposit on a house anywhere in the country".
What has your experience of renting been? Alice: It's challenging when you live with strangers. I'm a trainee solicitor, just qualified, so I don't make great wages. And then obviously Covid happened. My boyfriend is a musician, so there was no work. Overall, I've made two of my very best friends from renting. But I probably stopped liking it about six years ago. It's the lack of privacy [and] autonomy, and I find it's not very calming after a day's work.
As a couple, sharing is not ideal. It's quite demoralising when the decision-making process is taken out of your hands. We definitely can't afford to buy a house any time soon, whether it's outside Dublin or in Dublin, but at least now in May we'll have our own place. It's €1,400 between the two of us. That's cheap for Dublin, but it's going to be tight for us.
Sharon: I definitely agree with what Alice is saying about making friends. I met Laura through renting, and we're now best mates, which is really cool. I'm glad I've got someone who has my back. But most of my friends in South Africa now have beautiful apartments that are affordable. Everyone's got a car as well. Here, you almost have to choose between a car and rent. [Moving here], it was very difficult to try and find a place to live in. House shares could be quite cliquey. You'd see a house, get your hopes up, and then they would be like, "No sorry, my friend actually has a friend who wants it."
I was so shocked by how bad rental agencies were. You have to sell yourself to the agency, versus the...
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