Changes to rent controls announced - discussion

It may be prudent for a small LL to serve notice now. We can't trust what the legislation will actually entail until it is passed. Can always revoke the termination notice if happy with the legislation come the time.
 
I think it will encourage landlords to choose shorter term renters (meaning people who are probably gone move voluntary after a couple of years).
 
Will be important to see the detail of what’s allowed for small landlords as no fault eviction. I have one IP and expect to need it for personal use in 2-3 yrs time but if I can’t apply an own use eviction notice, I’ll have to reconsider what to do with it when my tenant leaves at the end of this yr. Dysfunctional answer would be to leave it empty when they leave which is a waste of housing. Surely those working abroad, renting out ppr and returning need to able to get back into their homes?
Will also be mindful of having control of the asset at the time of the next election as all bets will be off at that stage as well.
 
Premos said:
I think it will encourage landlords to choose shorter term renters (meaning people who are probably gone move voluntary after a couple of years).
Click to expand...

Absolutely - reverse racism....people with foreign sounding names will be getting replies from Daft.ie inquiries....the Bridget O'Neil's can suck eggs.
 

The key changes approved by the Government today include:​


  • Legislation to be introduced aimed at increasing the supply of rental accommodation and providing significant improvements to security of tenure for all new tenancies
  • Amendments to rent regulation will be introduced to promote investment and protect all tenants nationally.
  • A National system of rent control with rent increases for all tenancies to be capped by inflation (Consumer Price Index). In times of high inflation, rent increases for most tenancies will be capped at a maximum of 2%.
  • Significant improvement to tenant protections for all new tenancies (after March 1st 2026) further enhancing security of tenure for all new tenancies created after the introduction of new legislation.
  • Tenancies of unlimited duration to be enhanced by introduction of rolling-six year tenancies of minimum duration for smaller landlords (three or fewer tenancies) with restricted grounds for ending a tenancy.
  • Ending of ‘no fault evictions’ for larger landlords (four or more tenancies). Landlords with four or more tenancies will not be able to end a tenancy where the tenant has complied with their obligations except in very limited circumstances.
  • All landlords will continue to have the right to terminate a tenancy where there is a breach of tenant obligations or where the dwelling is no longer suited to the needs of the tenant household.
  • Smaller landlords (three or fewer tenancies) will only be able to terminate a tenancy during the six-year tenancy in limited circumstances:
    • Where they face hardship, which will be defined in legislation (e.g. separation/homelessness/emigrant returning from abroad/bankruptcy);
    • They require the dwelling for an immediate family member (parent/child/spouse).
  • At the end of each six-year tenancy, a smaller landlord will have the right to terminate a tenancy due to:
    • Intention to sell;
    • Renovation of the property;
    • Require property for family member
    • Change of use.
  • All Landlords who have entered into a new tenancy arrangement on or after March 1st 2026 will have the right to reset rent where the rent is below market at the end of each six-year tenancy, unless a ‘no fault eviction’ occurs. Under the Residential Tenancies Acts it will remain prohibited to set a rent above market rent.
  • All landlords will be able to sell a property with tenant in-situ at any time.
  • To incentivise new development of apartments rent increases in new developments subject to a commencement notice to planning authorities on or after today, will be capped by the Consumer Price Index.
To allow for sufficient time to develop the necessary legislation and to communicate the changes to landlords and tenants, it is proposed to introduce the new arrangements for tenancy protections from 1st March 2026.
Minister Browne intends to seek further Government approval, before the summer recess, for Heads of a Bill as a basis for the priority drafting of legislative amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act to provide for the changes announced today.
 
letitroll said:
A National system of rent control with rent increases for all tenancies to be capped by inflation (Consumer Price Index). In times of high inflation, rent increases for most tenancies will be capped at a maximum of 2%.
Click to expand...

I hope they cap BTL mortgage rate increases too at the same time! ‍

One of the key tenets of rented property as an asset class is inflation protection....the government just kneecapped this.....they've taken a terrible decision RPZ v2.0 in 2021 where CPI link was severed...and made it permanent....combined with six year tenancies and the prevalence of BTL's being financed with short dated or variable mortgage debt......one could foresee a scenario, not too outlandish given we've experienced high single digit inflation recently, where properties go 'upside down' from a cashflow perspective.

All things being equal rental properties are worth less today to a prospective owner on foot of this legislation and so my guess is we see the continued re-allocation of properties away from the rental sector to the owner-occupied sector further exacerbating the issue in the rental market.....the institution who should be most concerned about this is the one that just changed the legislation > the Irish Government....who will now have to increase further HAP payments to keep up with the short squeeze they've created in the rental market.
 
When speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Browne was unable to “predict” a specific timeline for when rents would come down. He said it would only happen after supply and investment increased, which he believed would follow from the reforms agreed. He would only say he expected rents to fall over time.

Not sure if such complex rules, and ever-changing rules, will get more houses built.

Otherwise, this pushes up rents.

1) Landlords will get out now while they can. After 1 March, they will find it very difficult to sell.
2) Any landlord with a new tenancy must charge as much as possible so that they don't get stuck in a low rent.
3) Anyone with 4 or more properties, should sell the excess so that they are not classified as big landlords.
4) Any landlord whose tenants leave in the near future, should leave the property empty until next year
 
Mr Browne said tenancies will be for an unlimited time, with a “minimum duration” of six years, which would be a “real leap forward” for tenant protections.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the Hunting of the Snark

"Transportation for life" was the sentence it gave,
"And then to be fined forty pound."
The Jury all cheered, though the Judge said he feared
That the phrase was not legally sound.
 
“This is not being presented as a silver bullet. This is to strike a balance, to bring clarity and to bring certainty,” he said. “Without all of these things we cannot ramp up the supply needed, and I’m determined and ambitious to get this right.”
 
Brendan Burgess said:
When speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Browne was unable to “predict” a specific timeline for when rents would come down. He said it would only happen after supply and investment increased, which he believed would follow from the reforms agreed. He would only say he expected rents to fall over time.

Not sure if such complex rules, and ever-changing rules, will get more houses built.

Otherwise, this pushes up rents.

1) Landlords will get out now while they can. After 1 March, they will find it very difficult to sell.
2) Any landlord with a new tenancy must charge as much as possible so that they don't get stuck in a low rent.
3) Anyone with 4 or more properties, should sell the excess so that they are not classified as big landlords.
4) Any landlord whose tenants leave in the near future, should leave the property empty until next year
Click to expand...

I think that’s right - creating a whole new class of ‘large landlord’ also puts a target on the back of the very people you are trying to entice in.

I think they’ve also created what one might the call the 3rd rail of Irish politics….putting the whole country under rent controls means that political parties can now compete with each other on a number….how much your rent will go up if they are put in power….giving your chief opponent (the left) a stick to beat you with is not very clever politically…to say nothing about the damage it will do to further housing investment.
 
..at least this is an acknowledgement that something HAD to change and allow landlords get back to market rent. I'm, sure there will be more 'bumps' in the road, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
 
Pauley said:
at least this is an acknowledgement that something HAD to change and allow landlords get back to market rent.
Click to expand...

Yes after being trapped in the price control basement for six years…you get to see the sky for a minute….before you go back in the basement for another six years….very kind of them!
 
I think that while trying to help long-term tenants, they make some LLs flee and encourage shorter term rentals. I am renting since 2014, none of my renters stayed more than 3.5 years. I was never concerned about that until 2022. Now, I look at the probability that the potential tenants staying long term.
 
Last edited:
I understand the different approach to large and small landlords. Someone could end up having two rentals without setting out to be a property investor and it’s more likely they have kept one for kids etc.

At four you have a business plan etc and they are more like business assets than just an apartment you had before getting married.

I guess the rules will be based on how many you had at the start of a tenancy rather than at a moment in time.
 
To summarise, I think these measures will put the squeeze on small landlords (defined as 3 tenancies or less), particularly in large urban areas.

Some of the measures are so antiquated.

Why is the government talking about increasing the supply of rental properties and enhancing the security of tenure of tenants while simultaneously inviting small landlords to consider exit strategies?
 
Last edited:
So let's roll on 6 years from March next year, we are going to have all the landlords from now to next March starting tenancies in March 2026, and we get to near 2032, SF are in power, or indeed it's Labour and FF or FF&FG. America has financially collapsed due to it's gazillions of borrowings, they brought down banks and economies and inflation was low so rent increases were 2% per year but in 2025 inflation goes thru the roof and what will happen then.

- Paul Murphy will start screaming about how unfair it will be to allow rents to go to market rent
- Eoin O'Brion will be going do la li
- RTE will bring on the bleeding hearts
- The Charities will be up in arms

You heard it here first folks, they will bring in a temporary ban on the 2032 market rate rents. Anyone who believes a word out of government, you have been warned.
 
Last edited:
Having digested the various changes, what really stands out for me is that they make an already complex regulatory framework positively Byzantine.

Tenants will now have different levels of security of tenure depending on when their tenancy started and the status of their landlord.

And different rent control rules will apply depending on the age of the property.

Will the complexity encourage further development? I very much doubt it.

Will it encourage existing landlords to stay in the game? Again, I think that’s very unlikely.

What I find really odd is that I haven’t heard a single politician, from any party, make the blindingly obvious point that rent controls are counterproductive - they make a bad situation worse.

And we end up with increasingly complex rules that are intended to solve for problems thrown up by what was a bad idea in the first place.
 
The market has spoken on the rent 'reforms' that are going to 'jumpstart' the new build apartment rental market!

New build large landlords i.e. international capital will look at what happened to the capital of the last cohort who came into Ireland with promises of attractive returns and got kneecapped for their troubles.

Its not pretty a picture and one any investment case would have to reference at an investment committee where a principal was proposing to sink money into the ground in Ireland.

IRES REIT is the country's largest landlord -

Performance Today:


1749645237877.png

Five year performance:

1749643341471.png

And the above reflects the market reaction today to the changes announced last night...zilch..clearly the market priced in some improvement relative to the current RPZ in the weeks leading up to the announced changes....but the day after the announced changes.....its down on the day (marginally).

The important metric here is that IRES, the countries largest landlord, has a portfolio of apartments today that trade in the market deeply below their net asset value i.e. what they could be sold for individually.....which is to say that the highest and best use of IRES's portfolio of apartments would be to sell them and get out of the rental business....selling their assets (predominantly to owner occupiers) would achieve a higher per apartment value than the value attributed to them as rental units. Which is the big tell here on these reforms.

There you have it - in real time - an indicator that the trend of the last few years will continue..... housing stock will continue to be allocated away from the rental sub-sector to the owner occupier sector and the housing crisis (in the rental sector for sure but more broadly the housing sector) will continue to get worse and worse.

Sad day for the country - to watch policymakers fumble the ball again and again on such an important issue. FF & FG just handed the 2029 election to the SF....they thought they were clever putting the six year timer on resets to market rents firmly into the middle of the next government's tenure.....it doesn't matter the housing crisis will be worse in 2029 cause this will not activate incremental apartment development.....and SF/Paul Murphy etc. will have a field day collecting the votes from all those with RPZ rents headed for reset in 2032.
 
Last edited:
Sarenco said:
Having digested the various changes, what really stands out for me is that they make an already complex regulatory framework positively Byzantine.

Tenants will now have different levels of security of tenure depending on when their tenancy started and the status of their landlord.

And different rent control rules will apply depending on the age of the property.

Will the complexity encourage further development? I very much doubt it.

Will it encourage existing landlords to stay in the game? Again, I think that’s very unlikely.

What I find really odd is that I haven’t heard a single politician, from any party, make the blindingly obvious point that rent controls are counterproductive - they make a bad situation worse.

And we end up with increasingly complex rules that are intended to solve for problems thrown up by what was a bad idea in the first place.
Click to expand...
So far has anyone on here on in the media who has analysed this thought any of this is a good idea. Any of it. I just groan and think more RTB, another new RTB system, no doubt more fees, more onus on landlords, less onus on tenants. All the hype. And nada.

Personally I've nothing against a well regulated rental system, security of tenure, good standards, inflation linked rent rises or decreases, all costs deductable (like all other business) and healthy competition. We landlords have no competition. Tenant's have no choices. There is no incentive to landlords to maintain or improve property if you can't increase rents to recoup the costs. Totally against the next to impossible to terminate tenancies in order to sell, against the property price being dictated by the artificially low rents, against the institutional investors charging the highest rents and paying little tax.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top