A decision by two leading private student accommodation operators to offer tenants only 51-week tenancies for the 2024-2025 academic year is a “retrograde step”, the representative body for the Republic’s eight universities has said, and is “not desirable” for the vast majority of students. Student housing platform Aparto, owned by international property investment giant Hines, and UK operator Yugo recently decided they would no longer offer 41-week leases in line with the college year.
Instead, the two landlords – which operate more than 4,500 bed spaces in Dublin and Cork between them – will move to a 51-week model, locking students into an extra 10 or so weeks of rent payments. Hines previously said the change was driven by “market trends” and an increase in inquiries about lengthier tenancie