Positive response to NUI Galway’s ‘digs’ search

NUI Galway has gotten a “very positive” response from homeowners to flyers seeking out rooms to rent across the city for students.

The college has leaflet-dropped 11,000 homes around the city, asking householders to consider renting a room in their house or apartment to a student, in a bid to alleviate the city’s accommodation crisis.

Homeowners can rent out a room and earn up to €12,000 tax free in a year.

The college’s Accommodation Office is seeking properties which are convenient to the campus – they must be on a bus route or a short walk away – for their 17,000 students, and also offers free advertising on the nuigstudentpad.ie website.

A spokesperson for NUIG told the Galway City Tribune: “It’s all going good. We have had a very positive reaction and a lot of people asking exactly how it will work.

“As we all know, there is a shortage of accommodation in the city, and the Accommodation Office is looking at ways to address that. They are going back to the traditional route for first year students; the digs approach with a proper meal in the evening, which is a lovely way to start out in the student experience.

“It could be very useful for a lot of people who want to earn some extra income. The students arrive on a Sunday night or Monday morning, they get a breakfast and evening meal, and they’re usually packed on a Thursday evening and gone on the Friday morning,” the spokesperson said.

The university is planning an information evening for homeowners on July 21 to explain the ‘Rent a Room’ scheme and answer other questions.

Galway West TD Noel Grealish described the idea as a ‘win-win’ for everybody which could go some way towards easing the pressure on demand for rental accommodation across the board.

“Only a few weeks ago we had a worrying warning from the Union of Students in Ireland that school leavers were changing their college choices because they were concerned they wouldn’t be able to found a place to stay in Galway.

“In the long term that could be disastrous for the city.”

He pointed out that there were big advantages to people renting out a room in their house, with rental income of up to €12,000 a year exempt from income tax.

“That means you could be earning up to €230 a week without having to pay tax on that income.”