Rents at Dublin City University (DCU) are calculated and charged “to the letter of the RPZ law”, the university’s president told the Government following an Irish Times report on an increase to accommodation service fees.
That report noted increases in mandatory monthly service charges, which cover utilities, combined with separate rent increases at the college park apartments at the Glasnevin campus resulted in total monthly payments going up almost 7 per cent in 2025. The complex is based within a rent pressure zone (RPZ), where rent increases are capped at 2 per cent per year or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
While the total mandatory monthly payments at the DCU accommodation went up by more than 2 per cent, this does not appear to break RPZ rules because the main increase is driven by the service charge, rather than the actual rent.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which governs rental law breaches, said an increase in service charges is permissible under rental laws as long as the charge has always been paid separately to the rent and has always been noted as such in the lease agreement.
Minister for Higher Education James Lawless wrote to the president of DCU Dáire Keogh last September expressing dissatisfaction with the charges in the midst of a student accommodation crisis.
“While this approach may be technically within the letter of the law, I do not believe it is in the spirit of the law and I am therefore asking DCU to reconsider this decision,” Mr Lawless said in the letter.
New records show Mr Keogh responded to the Minister by maintaining the rents are “charged to the letter of the RPZ law and additional service costs are calculated within the spirit of this legislation”.
“I reject any suggestion that DCU has sought to exploit loopholes in rent pressure protections,” he said, explaining how rents increased by 1.7 per cent this year and that utilities and services are charged separately.
“The service charge is on a cost recovery basis and costs incurred are dictated by market conditions, not DCU,” Mr Keogh said.
“This year’s increase in the overall monthly service charge is both as a result of the rising costs faced by the university across the board for utilities and services, and additional charges for existing essential services now being incorporated for 2025/26,” Mr Keogh said. In his letter to the Minister, which was released following a Freedom of Information request, he included a table with a breakdown of these charges.
“I emphasise that the university has not made the decision to increase the service charge lightly, and it is fully aware of the extra strain this will place on students and their families. But as long as the costs of utilities and services in the Irish economy continue to rise, they will have to be passed along,” Mr Keogh said.