Irish pm increases rental fees

Fees at the taoiseach's Yorkshire apartments are set to rise despite maintenance complaints...

While Irish landlords are suffering from a slump in the rental market, Brian Cowen and his partners in a Leeds student accommodation block are instead raising rents.

While rents in Ireland fell by an average of five per cent in the first quarter, fees at Carr Mills, the student apartments of which Cowen is an absentee landlord, are set to rise by five per cent in the 2009/2010 academic year, according to accommodation information distributed by Leeds University.

Despite the rent hike, some students claim that the development is beset by maintenance problems. Joanna Slack, a first-year student, told Leeds Student, a university magazine, that maintenance issues had plagued her first year.

"The hot water went off on a weekend before the Christmas holidays," she said. "There's no on-site office at weekends, so we rang one of the wardens. Maintenance didn't come until another couple of days and they couldn't fix it straight away. It went off again when we came back after Christmas. We couldn't wash up or clean for a week as we came back before term started."

An en-suite room in the seven-bedroom unit cost £93.40 per week in the 2008/2009 academic year but has risen to £97.50. This works out at a £200 increase over the year. Students living in the old textile mill rent rooms for 42 weeks a year.

Speaking to The Sunday Times last week, Slack said she was now deciding whether to stay for another year in Carr Mills. "It's a bit pricey for the location. If there hadn't been problems I would probably have stayed on but I'm now reconsidering," she said.

Lighting in a stairwell in the complex had been out of order for more than a week recently, she said. The lifts in one of the blocks were out of order over the Easter holidays.

Cowen and 37 other Carr Mills investors paid £12.5 million in 2005 for the 48 units. About 300 students live there.

The Carr Mills Partnership, the group representing the Irish owners, no longer manages the block. In 2007 the Adderstone Group, a property firm, bought the freehold to the development and took over its day-to-day management. Cowen and his fellow investors are currently seeking to wrestle back control of the property.

Adderstone has threatened to take the Carr Mills Partnership to court over non-payment of ¤112,000 in ground rent and fees. The company also claims Cowen and his fellow investors have illegally sub-let their apartments to Leeds University. Lavelle Coleman solicitors, representing the Carr Mills Partnership, declined to comment.

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk