'This can't be right': Tenants challenge council rent rises

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There have been protests recently over council rent increases in Dublin, Wicklow and Leitrim, amid changes to how rents are calculated

Seamus Reidy is one of many council tenants around the country who have recently received letters telling them their rent is increasing significantly.

"It was unbelievable when I saw it because I said, this can't be right," he said. "Basically, they were looking for what I was paying a month nearly every week," he added.

Seamus works and uses a wheelchair. He says he wants to maintain his independence but believes the way rents rise with income can discourage tenants from progressing in employment.

According to the letter, his rent in an accessible bungalow in Leitrim was increasing from €37.30 a week to €159 a week. In monthly terms, he was asked to go from paying from €162 to €689.

He sought help from the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) and applied to have his new rent reassessed on hardship grounds. The council subsequently revised the charge to €100 a week (€433 when calculated in monthly terms).

Seamus isn't alone. There have been protests recently over council rent increases in Dublin, Wicklow and Leitrim, amid changes to how rents are calculated.

In Co Dublin, Linda Roddy says the rent on her family's three-bedroom council house in Ballymun has doubled to €320 a week (approximately €1,386 monthly) since last year. She has since found herself in arrears. She says she does not know what accounts for the increase.

She moved into the Dublin City Council home 15 years ago and works part-time, while her partner works full-time.

"We're trying to pay it every week, but we might as well be paying a mortgage," she said.

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