Timing of a Notice of Rent Review

[Joe Hill]

Hi all.
I have a property in an RPZ that is rented out - now in the third year of rental to the same tenants.
I live abroad, so I have appointed an agent to manage the property on my behalf.
The last Notice of Rent Review was issued 12 months ago, with the rental increase taking effect three months later.
I now want to issue another Notice of Rent Review. My reading of the legislation (pedant that I am!) and the RTB's website is that I can issue a Notice of Rent Review 12 months after the previous Notice of Rent Review, and therefore the new rent will take effect 12 months after the previous rent increase - i.e. I can raise the rent every 12 months.
The agent is saying that that the Notice of Rent Review can't be issued until the 12 month anniversary of the last rent increase (not the last Notice of Rent Review), and that the new rent increase will take effect three months later - in effect that I can only raise the rent every 15 months. The agent said that she rang the RTB and this is what they told her.
I can't fathom this - what am I missing here?

(BTW, I do understand that the interval between the commencement of a letting and the issue of the first Notice of Rent Review is 12 months, that the rent increase takes effect 3 months later, and that therefore the interval between the commencement of a letting and the date on which the first rent increase can take effect is 15 months - but thereafter it is 12 months)

 

[DannyBoyD]

Use the RTB calculator & go by that; and forget ringing the RTB for anything. Waste of time.

 

[Sarenco]

Your reading of the legislation is correct - your agent is wrong.

Ignore what some random RTB employee says over the ‘phone.

 

[Dermot]

Change your agent if they are that incompetent on a relatively small issue

 

[Villaines]

I have received the same advice from my agent. I disagree, but that is what I'm being told they do, and they do it for all tenancies they manage. They say this is the law. I'm as baffled as the OP.

Can the OP confirm what they ultimately did?

 

[Dermot]

@Villaines . Your agent is absolutely wrong and the OP is correct. You should change your agent as obviously they are not fit for purpose. This is just basic knowledge that a letting agent should have.

 

[Greenbook]

I tried to read the legislation on this, it is very difficult to follow. However, citizen's advice does seem to say the same as the agents. Rent reviews can only be issued every 12 months but you must give the tenant 90 days notice of the increase, so the increases take effect every 15 months.

Rent increases in private rented housing​

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/...ies/rent-increases-in-private-rented-housing/

Notice of rent review​

Once the required period (12 or 24 months) has elapsed, your landlord can issue a notice of rent review.
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/...ies/rent-increases-in-private-rented-housing/
The landlord must give you proper notice of the amount of the proposed new rent and the date from which it is to take effect. Landlords must use the RTB’s Notice of Rent Review Form (pdf) when issuing a rent review. Landlords should fill out the sections of the form that are relevant to them and should not delete or change any of the form. Other forms, emails, text messages and spoken messages are not valid forms of notice.

You must get at least 90 days’ notice of a rent review. This means that the new rent cannot apply until 90 days after the notice has been issued.

The landlord must also notify the RTB of the revised rent so that it can update the registration details of the tenancy. The landlord can do this online using the RTB’s online account system, or by completing the RTB’s Tenancy Update Form (pdf) and returning it to the RTB. The form can be emailed to [email protected], or posted to the RTB. There is no fee for updating this information with the RTB. The RTB’s website has more information about updating your tenancy details.

 

[DannyBoyD]

the increases take effect every 15 months

The amount of increase allows for that - just use the RTB calculator.

 

[bipped]

Always thought the 15 months only applied the first time the rent was increased - is that not how it works?
Eg, if a tenant moved in at 01Oct21,
first rent review on 30Sep22 +90 day notice so rent increase is from 01Jan23;
next rent review on 30Sep23 +90 days so rent increase is from 01Jan24;
next rent review on 30Sep24 +90 days so rent increase is from 01Jan25 etc

 

[Dermot]

@bipped . In your example of tenant taking up new lease on 1st Oct 21,
Notice of next rent review to be served 30th June 22, giving a least 90 days notice of rent increase taking effect on 1st of Oct 22.
Every 12 months you should be repeating this in the same order as outlined above.
You use the RTB calculator to determine the increase that you are allowed

 

[bipped]

@bipped . In your example of tenant taking up new lease on 1st Oct 21,
Notice of next rent review to be served 30th June 22, giving a least 90 days notice of rent increase taking effect on 1st of Oct 22.
Every 12 months you should be repeating this in the same order as outlined above.
You use the RTB calculator to determine the increase that you are allowed

Thank you for that information, that makes more sense. I clearly misunderstood how it works in practice.