Well known Holylands landlord Declan Boyle stands for Belfast council election

Declan Boyle, a well known Holylands landlord, is standing for Belfast’s new super council this May.

Representing the SDLP, Boyle, who is also chairman of the Landlord’s Association of Northern Ireland will aim to take a seat in south Belfast.

He said the major issue of his campaign would be the high rate bills people face in south Belfast, where monthly rent averages at £687 a month.

Speaking to The Tab, Declan Boyle said his main aim in running for Belfast council was to act “as a voice for people who feel like they don’t have an adequate voice”

Both students and residents appear to have “no idea” who is there to represent them in South Belfast according to Mr. Boyle, who sees himself as running for “everyone and anyone” in the south Belfast area, both residents and students.

In an interview with The Tab, Declan Boyle, who is well known as a Holylands landlord in the popular student area of south Belfast, told us he was “happy to chat about issues of public concern but not private concern” and refused about anything work related or “personal issues”. He also bizarrely refused to talk about how long he had been a landlord in the Holylands.

Caitlín Carlin, a graduate of St. Mary’s University College, rented her Holylands house from Declan Boyle in second year at university.

“He was a great landlord, and I know they’re hard to come by!” Caitlín told The Tab.

“He was always standing up for students and making sure they were safe. When I rented off him he was looking into getting alley gates to ensure the houses would be safer. And even when St Paddy’s day comes around he speaks to the students in a way that he gains their respect.”

“He seems to have such a great relationship with the students that they’ll do what he says. With regards to elections though I don’t know how he’ll get on with the local voters. I know a lot of students return home to vote so that may not work in his favour.”

Boyle angered many residents of the Holylands in 2012 when he controversially commissioned the mural of Rory McIlroy that can be seen at the end of Damascus Street to “brighten up the area”.

Non-student residents in the Holylands were said to be “upset and angry” at the time, believing that the mural was somehow evidence of students being given preferential treatment at the expense of people living in the area.

Dismissing the idea that there was a gap between students and residents in the Holylands, Mr Boyle said “I don’t like the terms ‘residents’ and ‘students’ – students are residents. I don’t like this wedge that people try to put between them. If it were any other group in society – if you talk about age, sexual orientation, colour or creed you couldn’t say ‘They’re not the same as us’.”

He went on to say: “Their lifestyle is the only thing that’s different to yours, they [students] want to go out while you [residents] just want to go to bed. And the vast majority of them are fine – you get some that are a bit over the top, but you get that everywhere. The whole lot shouldn’t be branded the same as the handful that go over the top.”

He dismissed the negative reaction, saying: “We live in a world where people will have a negative reaction no matter what you do, but Belfast as a whole was completely positive” in response to the mural.

“It was put there to aspire young people to aspire to their goals.”

Professional golfer Rory McIlroy holds an honorary university degree from University of Ulster, making him technically a student. Technically.

Mr Boyle also said that “There is certainly room for more”, leaving an opening for murals of Christine Bleakley and Ciarán Hinds in the near distant future.

When we asked if the low number of students registered to vote in the area was a problem Declan Boyle said, “It is what it is and you just work with what you have. A lot of people don’t feel that voting is worth their while, they don’t feel represented. It’s sad that a lot of young people don’t have a voice, don’t feel like they’re being listened to and that’s one of the things that I’m going to try to change.”

But Mr. Boyle reminded us that he’s just running for local council, not MLA. “People think you’re just going to wave a magic wand – people start talking to you about the education system, about things which are really irrelevant. And if you said that to them, they’d really feel offended. The fact is, this is local council it’s not MLA, it’s not MP. It’s local issues, it’s things that matter to people in those areas”

One of the main issues Mr Boyle spoke about was parking in the QUB area. “The amount of tickets I see young students getting when they’re on their way to lectures and rushing to get parked. Students don’t have money to spend on fines like that. Sometimes people want to penalise students because they’re students which isn’t on”.

He went on to suggest further parking be made available around the PEC – “Something like the PEC car park where there’s a lot of room. There is space there that could be made available.”

“The university area is a unique area” Boyle told The Tab, likening the thousands coming in and out of the area for short periods of time as “flash floods”.

The SDLP candidate also caused controversy by voicing opposition to the tenancy deposit scheme, which has been introduced to prevent landlords from keeping hold of tenants desposits without good reason and to mediate and prevent disputes arising between landlords and tenants.

The scheme, which has been supported by Citizens Advice and Housing Rights Service, and was welcomed by student leaders as “a victory for students and other tenants” was criticised by Boyle for being “bureaucratic” and “cumbersome”. Boyle also raised concerns that the penalties in Northern Ireland are more severe than in the rest of the UK.

Speaking to The Tab, Boyle continued to criticise the scheme as “bureaucratic” and “laboursome”, claiming that “It won’t be the pill for all cures that everyone expects it to be”.

Speaking at the time of the introduction of the scheme, Declan Boyle told the BBC that some property owners holding back on deposits for ‘dubious reasons’ were making it difficult for landlords whose tenants had actually caused damage. Mr Boyle advised students to “video record the property with a mobile phone to show its state at the time of moving in”

“There’s no doubt that some landlords are justified in holding deposits when there is damage. The most extreme case I ever saw was when an entire wall inside the house was gone – the students had ripped it apart, plasterboard and all, but thankfully this is a very small minority”

Ryan Slavin, a psychology student at QUB and another Holylands ex-tenant of Boyle also described him as an extremely good landlord that makes “you always feel looked after”.

“In short, I couldn’t say a bad word against Declan. As regards to a landlord, he’s extremely approachable and attentive to any issues you may have with the house, which is rare as all his seem to be in good condition. I’ve only ever had a fridge give up on me and it was replaced within a couple of hours!”

“I see him as a real benefit to the area as a councillor” says Ryan, “I suppose he could give students the voice they never really had, whilst remembering it’s not just students that live there”

The landlord is well known in the Holylands and is featured on the popular Holyland HouseParty Facebook page, as well as being the subject of a parody Bebo account way back when.

“I’d imagine he’s so well known and regarded as a true legend of the Holylands due to being there so long and knowing the area like the back of his hand,” Says Ryan.

“Everybody has had a brother, sister, cousin or even auntie or uncle who’s had ‘Decky Boyle’ as a landlord, it’s almost tradition. He’s always keen to talk to students and would never pass you by without saying hello.”