CURRENT LEGAL ARTICLES

  

Your central legal rights and responsibilities as a tenant come from landlord and tenant law and any lease or tenancy agreement you have with your landlord.

Residential tenancies legislation outlines most tenants’ rights and obligations. The Law Reform Commission has a consolidated version of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, with all the updates to the central 2004 Act.

If you rent a room in your landlord’s home, you are not covered by landlord and tenant legislation, even if you rent a self-contained flat in your landlord’s house. Read more in our document on sharing accommodation with your landlord.

Leases or other tenancy agreements cannot remove your rights under the legislation. However, you and your landlord can agree on matters not covered by legislation in a lease or tenancy agreement, for example, who pays for the utility bills.

• You are entitled to quiet and exclusive enjoyment of your home. If noise from other tenants or neighbours is disturbing you, ask them to stop and inform your landlord. If this does not work, you can make a formal complaint.
• You are entitled to specific minimum standards of accommodation
• You are entitled to a rent book
• You have the right to contact the landlord or their agent at any reasonable time. You are entitled to have appropriate contact information (telephone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, etc.)
• Your landlord is only allowed to enter your home with your permission. If the landlord needs to carry out repairs or inspect the premises, it should be by prior arrangement, except in an emergency
• You are entitled to be reimbursed for any repairs that you carry out that are the landlord’s responsibility
• You are entitled to have visitors stay overnight or for short periods unless expressly forbidden in your tenancy agreement. You must tell your landlord if you have an extra person moving in
• You are entitled to a certain amount of notice of the termination of your tenancy
• You are entitled to at least 90 days’ notice if your landlord wants to review the rent, and there are rules about how often they can do this
• You are entitled to refer any disputes to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) without being penalised for doing so
• You have the right to a copy of any register entry held by the RTB about your tenancy
• All homes for rent must have a Building Energy Rating (BER), stating how energy-efficient the house is. This will help you to make an informed choice when comparing properties to rent.

If you rent from an approved housing body (AHB), your tenancy comes under the residential tenancies legislation, and you have most of the same rights as private tenants. However, there are some differences:

• You may not assign or sublet the tenancy
• Rent reviews will be carried out by the tenancy agreement (if there is one) or else no more than once a year
• Most AHBs tenants will get tenure security  after 6 months in the tenancy. Security of tenure (also known as Part 4 rights) means that you can stay on the property for several years. However, this does not apply if you live in transitional accommodation and the tenancy is for 18 months or less.
• The landlord’s right to terminate a Part 4 tenancy because they or a family member needs to live in the property does not apply to AHB tenancies
• The minimum standards for food preparation, storage and laundry purposes do not apply to AHBs, so they do not have to provide their tenants with white goods, such as washing machines

Tenants in student-specific accommodation are protected in residential tenancies legislation. These student tenants have most of the same rights as private tenants. For example, they can access the RTB’s dispute resolution process, and the tenancies must be registered with the RTB. However, there are some differences; for example, tenants in student-specific accommodation do not have the security of tenure. This came in under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019.

If you are a tenant in student-specific accommodation, you only need to give your landlord 28 days’ notice when ending a tenancy. You can provide your landlord more notice if you want. This came in under the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021. The RTB has a guidance document (pdf) and FAQs (pdf) about this legislation.

Find out more about your rights as a tenant in student-specific accommodation on the RTB’s website.

Security of tenure is a tenant’s right to stay in rented accommodation for a time. Generally, security of tenure applies automatically when you have been renting for 6 months and haven’t received a valid notice of termination from your landlord. When you have the security of tenure, your landlord can only terminate your tenancy for a limited number of reasons; see our page ‘If your landlord wants you to leave.

The amount of time you are entitled to stay in rented accommodation after the first 6 months depends on when your tenancy began.

If your tenancy was created after 10 June 2022, you have a residence of unlimited duration. If you have rented somewhere for 6 months, you have the right to stay in that accommodation indefinitely (no end date) unless the landlord wants to terminate your tenancy for one of the allowed reasons.

If your tenancy was created before 10 June 2022, you have the right to stay in your rented accommodation for up to 6 years after you have rented for 6 months. At the end of these 6 years, your landlord can end your tenancy without giving a reason, as allowed under the old rules. But, if the landlord does not end your residence at this stage, it automatically becomes a tenancy of unlimited duration and has no end date.

Read more in our document Tenants’ rights to stay in rented accommodation.

You will probably have to pay a security deposit when you agree to rent a property. The landlord holds this deposit as security to cover any rent arrears, bills owing or damage beyond normal wear and tear at the end of the tenancy.

You cannot be forced to pay more than 2 months’ rent upfront. This includes a deposit of a month’s rent and one month’s rent in advance. This restriction applies to all tenancies created from 9 August 2021 and is set out in the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021. Students in student-specific residences can opt-out of this restriction and pay a larger upfront payment if they want.

Threshold provides valuable tips on what to bear in mind before you pay a deposit, including information on how to avoid rent scams. Your landlord must provide you with an inventory of the property’s contents. You should keep a record of the condition of everything listed, taking photos if possible, and agree on this in writing with your landlord.

When you leave a property at the end of the agreed rental period or after giving the agreed notice, the landlord must return your security deposit promptly and in full. Read Threshold’s advice on getting your deposit back.

However, if you leave before the end of the agreed period, the landlord may keep your deposit, even if you have given notice. (Depending on what is stated in the lease agreement, you may also be liable for the amount of rent due until the end of the lease.)

The landlord may keep part or all of the deposit in the following situations:

• Rent arrears
• Unpaid bills
• Damage above normal wear and tear
• If you have not given adequate notice

The landlord cannot hold your possessions against the money you owe, but they can apply to the RTB if they feel that your deposit does not cover rent arrears or the cost of damage to the property.

The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 provides for a tenancy deposit protection scheme, where the RTB would manage and hold deposits for tenants and landlords. These provisions are not yet in effect.

You must:

• Pay your rent on time
• Pay any other charges that are specified in the letting agreement, for example, waste collection charges; utility bills; management fees to the management company in an apartment complex – see ‘Other orders and payments’ below
• Keep the property in good order
• Inform the landlord if repairs are needed and give the landlord access to the property to carry out repairs
• Give the landlord access (by appointment) to routine inspections
• Inform the landlord of who is living on the property
• Avoid causing damage or nuisance
• Make sure that you do not cause the landlord to be in breach of the law
• Comply with any special terms in your tenancy agreement, oral or written
• Give the landlord the information they need to register with the RTB and sign the registration form
• Give the landlord proper notice when you are ending the tenancy

You should note that it may be more difficult to assert your rights if you have broken the conditions of your tenancy.

The owner (your landlord) is responsible for paying the Local Property Tax to the Revenue Commissioners. There may be an agreement that you will pay this amount, but your liability will be to the landlord, not Revenue.

The terms of your letting agreement will detail whether or not you have to pay for services such as heating, electricity, gas or TV connections. If you rent a house, you will probably be liable for all these charges.

Multi-unit developments

In some multi-unit developments, such as apartment complexes, the heating may be operated centrally, and you may not have to pay separately. In some complexes, cable TV may be supplied. In most complexes, bin collection is organised by the management company, and you may not have to pay charges for this.

There are annual charges in multi-unit developments to pay for:

• Routine maintenance
• Insurance and repair of common areas
• Provision of standard services
• A sinking fund for non-routine refurbishment and maintenance expenses

Your landlord may pass these charges on to you if this is agreed upon, but if they are not paid, the owner’s management company will pursue the owner (the landlord) for them.

If your landlord’s mortgage is in arrears and the mortgage lender has appointed a receiver, you must pay the rent to the receiver. But, the landlord remains legally responsible for matters such as returning your deposits. The receiver may arrange to carry out repairs, but it is unclear if they are required to do this or whether the receiver takes on any of the responsibilities of a landlord.

Read more in Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s Residential Tenant’s Guide to Receivership and Threshold’s tips for tenants when a property is in receivership (pdf).

If your landlord lives outside the State, you must deduct tax for the rent and account for it to the Revenue Commissioners.

Read more about this issue in our document on tax issues for tenants.

If you feel your rights as a tenant have been broken, you have several ways to correct this. Our document on resolving disputes between landlords and tenants describes several options. These include taking your case to the Residential Tenancies Board, which provides a dispute resolution service for private, AHB and student-specific tenancies. Or contacting the RTB’s investigations and sanctions unit to make a complaint about a landlord breaking residential tenancies legislation.

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