Rental market reforms information

On 10 June 2025, the Government approved new policies to strengthen rent controls and tenancy protections for new tenancies created from 1 March 2026. These changes are based on recommendations from the Housing Agency’s Review of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs).

The information below should help you understand how those changes affect you

• To protect tenants nationwide: by ensuring all tenants benefit from rent protection.
• To improve security of tenure for tenants: by restricting “no fault evictions.” A no-fault eviction is when a landlord ends a tenancy without the tenant having done anything wrong—that is, not due to rent arrears, anti-social behaviour or another breach of the lease.
• To increase supply: Ireland is facing a shortage of rental homes, especially apartments. The reforms aim to encourage investment and development, which will encourage the building of new rental apartments and help slow down rent increases and moderate rent levels over time.
• To create a fairer system: which will better balance tenant protections with landlords’ needs.

• Private rented housing (including accommodation let under the HAP and RAS)
• Student-specific accommodation
• Approved Housing Body (AHB) tenancies
• Cost rental tenancies

HAP is the Housing Assistance Payment and RAS is the Rental Accommodation Scheme – in both cases, private landlords accommodate tenants in receipt of social housing support.

Only changes regarding Tenancies of Minimum Duration. AHBs have separate rules for rent setting

Only changes regarding Tenancies of Minimum Duration. Cost Rental properties have separate rules for rent setting

• Local authority tenancies
• Where a renter shares the property with the owner (e.g. renting a room in the landlord’s home).

What new rules to protect tenants will be made?

The category of landlord to which a landlord belongs is based on the number of tenancies they have. The Government has decided that Smaller Landlords means 3 or fewer tenancies and Larger Landlords will be 4 or more tenancies.

If a landlord has a property which contains 4 or more tenancies, they would fall into the category of larger landlord.

A tenancy will become a rolling 6-year term if:

• The tenant has lived in the property under tenancy for at least six months, and
• Has not received a valid notice of termination during that period.

Tenants can end their tenancy at any time by giving written notice with the required notice period. They won’t be tied to a 6-year contract. Tenant notice periods vary from 28 days to 112 days, depending on how long they have been in the tenancy

What upcoming changes are being made to rent increase rules?

To attract new landlords and maintain existing landlords, rent resets will be allowed when:

• a tenant leaves voluntarily,
• a tenant breaches their obligations, or
• the home no longer meets their needs (e.g. size, accessibility).
• At the end of each 6-year tenancy

Exception: Resetting rents will not be allowed after ‘no fault evictions’. This will mean landlords won’t be able to evict tenants to increase the rent.

Allowing landlords to reset rents between tenancies may result in moderate rent increases. However, this is expected to stabilise as more housing supply enters the market.

Overall, both landlords and tenants will benefit from the clarity and predictability of the reforms.

• All landlords will be able to sell their rented property with the tenant still living in the dwelling at any time.
• All landlords may choose to sell their property with vacant possession when a tenant has left of their own choice.
• Small landlords may choose to sell their property with vacant possession at the end of each 6-year TMD, for a limited time before the property rolls into a further 6-year tenancy.
• Small landlords may choose to sell their property with vacant possession in limited circumstances due to financial hardship

The upcoming changes will include safeguards to ensure that rent cannot be reset for a new tenant unless the previous tenant leaves of their own choice, breaches their obligations, or the dwelling no longer meets their needs. However, rent resetting will be allowed at the end of each 6 year Tenancy of Minimum Duration (TMD)

We are working with the RTB to address unlawful practices through dispute resolution and sanctions.

If you believe your eviction that the Notice of Termination or rent increase you may have received breaks the rules, you can contact the RTB to challenge it.

Boosting the number of rental homes is essential to meeting housing demand and improving affordability. Since mid-2022, there has been a sharp decline in private investment in new rental developments. This drop is reflected in the 2024 apartment completion figures, which are down 24% compared to 2023.

Multiple expert reports — including those from the Housing Agency, Department of Finance, ESRI, OECD, and IMF — agree that the current rent control system is a major obstacle to increasing rental housing supply.

These changes should lead to more apartments and student specific accommodation being built. However, because large-scale housing projects take time, the increase in supply won’t be immediate.

The ‘new’ rules only apply to new tenancies that begin after 1 March 2026. If some tenants change but others remain, this is not a new tenancy, so continues to follow the rules that are in place until 28 February 2026.

As student tenancies / licences in SSA generally change every year, the new rent controls from 1 March 2026 need to be tailored to suit how they operate.

The rent increase restriction will apply to all SSA during the first 3 years of operation of the new national rent control. It is not proposed to allow SSA to reset rents upon the commencement of each student licence. SSA can reset its rents to market value after 3 years and after every 3-year period that follows while it continues to operation as SSA.

The amount of rent paid for the tenant’s needsa tenancy of a dwelling will be included on the RTB’s published register for dwellings across the country, without disclosing the address of the dwelling nor the identity of the landlord or tenant. We are working with the office of the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure any changes made comply with GDPR.

How did we decide to make changes to the rental sector?

I’m a new tenancy begins between now and 28 February 2026, can the landlord end the tenancy on a “no fault” basis?

We’ll be renting from a large landlord from 1 March 2026. Will our tenancy be more secure?

We’ll be renting from a small landlord from 1 March 2026. Will our tenancy be more secure?

We need a short-term rental from 1 March 2026 before buying a home. Will the new law prevent us from ending our tenancy early?

I'm a small landlord. I want to re-let my apartment from 1 March 2026. What new rules will apply?

I'm a small landlord with three or fewer properties, one of which I've rented out for four years. How will the new law affect me?

I'm a large landlord as I own more than four properties. I need to re-let one on 1 March 2026. What are the new rules?

I’m a large landlord with apartments to rent from 1 March 2026. What rules will apply?