Saturday, April 22, 2006

Renters Rights

30 people in Ireland got scammed last week by a man who rented all of them an apartment in Dublin that it appears he didn't own and gave them keys that didn't work. It is reported that he made around €35,000 from the con.

Daft.ie seems to be getting some unwelcome press coverage about the issue, but you cant really blame them as it appears that the advert was also in newspapers and other web sites. If fact Daft were able to take down the advert when they became aware of the con, but obviously the newspapers would have still been in circulation.

The whole thing just serves to highlight the fact that despite the governments press releases and toothless committees on the rights of tenants most people renting are completely exposed to the whims of their landlord when it comes to deposits, rent and conditions. With property prices rising so steeply many people are being priced out of the market and forced to continue renting. The government wont really act to help them since people renting often don't re-register to vote when they move apartment so there are no votes to be won, and property developers and investors are major contributers to political parties so there is incentive to rock the boat for them.

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