Mexican student asked for underwear photos by landlord
Has According For Harmon Been Crisis The Acmodation Getting A Director Laura More File Picture Irish For Student Worse Than International Council To Students Executive Decade,
A woman was asked for intimate photos of herself in her underwear by her landlord, who cut contact with her after she tried to get her deposit back from him.
Alma Yasbeth Pacheco Correa from Mexico City was also offered a bed-sharing arrangement with a different landlord just weeks later.
Ms Pacheco Correa had secured accommodation in Tallaght, after coming to Ireland to study for a Masters in entrepreneurship starting this month.
In April, the 31-year-old paid €480 as a deposit for a room in a house shared with other tenants and the landlord. In July, she received a text message from her landlord, asking her for a photograph of her in her bra.
She did not respond.
A month later, the landlord told her the room would not be available to her until October because his sick sister needed it. He gave her the option of getting back her deposit and finding somewhere else. She took that option. However, attempts to get her deposit back have failed, and he will not answer or respond to calls or messages.
In her hunt for different accommodation, she found a double room with two single beds. However, when she asked the landlord about seeing the property, he told her she would be required to share a bed with him.
She has since secured accommodation at a reduced rate in return for work as a carer.
Ms Pacheco Correa, who had saved for five years to come to Ireland to study, said she is “confused, upset, angry” as a result of the incidents.
“It is very disgusting for any woman and it is so uncomfortable," she said.
"Sometimes we say in Latin America that Europe is the land of dreams, but every single society has maladies.”
Irish Council for International Students executive director Laura Harmon said that the student accommodation crisis has been getting worse for more than a decade.
She said it is now at its very worst because of a lack of housing supply, exorbitant rents, and ineffective regulations on overcrowding, among other issues.
“International students are being forced to take risks out of desperation, which sadly is leaving many people falling victim to fraud," she said
She said the Government has “failed abysmally to solve to the student accommodation crisis”, adding that there is a “serious reputational risk to Ireland as a study destination and must be addressed by Government if we are to continue increasing student numbers and providing a top-quality student experience”.
A spokesman for the Department of Housing said that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has met with student representatives to outline the steps which have already been taken to provide greater support to student renters. He added that Mr O’Brien is working alongside the Minister for Further and Higher Education in relation to a new funding model for student-specific accommodation.
He added that the Department of Justice and Department of Housing have received advice from the Attorney General on such requests from landlords.
He added: “Both departments are now working together to identify and progress appropriate legal measures on it.”
Meanwhile, the Ban on Sex for Rent Bill 2022 introduced in the Dáil by Social Democrats’ Cian O’Callaghan is currently at the pre-legislative stage.
The bill proposes a jail term of seven years and a fine of up to €50,000.