Changes to rent controls announced - thread for clarifying

Greenbook said:
That reduction sounds correct. The market will be limited to landlords who are cash buyers as buy to let lending is tiny, literally a handfull of approvals every month. So aside from the price reduction, you might be waiting quite a while to sell. You might also only get one interested landlord who will soon spot that he can name his price.
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IS this not already the case? I had a look at a few cases of these last year to find historical sales from 1-3 years ago on b2b market. For example, large pre63 in Clontarf, by the time of sale, vacant possession. Extremely poor condition to say the least. Barely habitable if at all. Asking price was 999k, EA claimed that "restoration to family home" would rise the price to 1.5m. (Owner occupied homes on same street seemed to be getting near that). In the end it sold for 800k. I presume they discounted on the basis of it being on the verge of uninhabitable.
One of the problems that isn't really getting any interest now is that properties that have been let for now over a decade to same tenants are likely to be in severely degraded states, given that tenants are not obliged for many upkeep items (eg getting the gutters cleaned) so landlords are faced with scenarios in which the condition of the property isn't meeting standards and needs significant investment, making it far more attractive to just sell it.
Don't discount also fact that a huge number of small landlords bought between 2006-2007 and would now only be seeing their properties return to the price they paid for them originally (and in some cases even not).
 
Greenbook said:
That reduction sounds correct. The market will be limited to landlords who are cash buyers as buy to let lending is tiny, literally a handfull of approvals every month. So aside from the price reduction, you might be waiting quite a while to sell. You might also only get one interested landlord who will soon spot that he can name his price.
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Well that's what political opinion demands: they wanted to get rid of all landlords, and they are getting their wish.
 
lff12 said:
Likely to be the case, yes. The trouble is, with the experience a lot of tenants have now, or their friends, or people who would like to be tenants, there will be pitchforks out for landlords by 2032. Choice really is, do you want to stick with this system, or not? Its only going to become more heavily regulated as political pressure continues to pile up. That's the hard choice really.
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Agree with you entirely. I've been suspicious of what was going to happen with the PRS for a number of years now, so I've only taken relatively short term tenants even if it meant a vacancy until somebody suitable turned up. As my current tenants leave, I will sell. This is after nearly 30 years in the business and, I believe anyway, that I have done a professional job for the most part. I was lucky in that I was able to avoid overborrowing. All deposits are kept in an untouched separate bank account, so we've only ever withheld for genuine damage, and that, in fairness, has been rare. We've have a separate larger account for repairs and maintenance so I'm under no financial pressure if a washingmachine needs to be replaced or new furniture or a repaint is needed. I could, in the past anyway, give a bit of a discount to attract in the tenant I thought was the most suitable.

Ultimately, I think we'll see a situation with fewer tenancies per head of population, higher rents and more misbehaviour from amateur landlords. More rules and regulations will of course be needed to solve that.
 
DannyBoyD said:
The major change in my view is that the entire country is an RPZ.
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What happens after 01Mar? The recent RPZ change brought in the whole country and extended the date from Dec25 to Feb26.
I assumed there would be no need for any RPZ designation after 01Mar. Is it not a whole new system coming where the rules are to be based exclusively on the landlord’s classification of small or large, and rent increase caps apply to all tenancies?
 
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Hi, Current tenant has just left, rent is €1400, market is €2000 in RPZ. Would it be better to wait until March? or can I rent it out to someone on a short agreement and sign a new agreement in march? Thank
 
Better off waiting until March. Signing a lease now and a new one in March with the same tenant could very easily be challenged.

Keep in mind the restrictions coming in - rent control is still there, you will only get an increase at year 6 if your tenant stays; you may have a fight on your hands with the tenant or there may be a 'rent freeze', if you need to sell you'll have to do so at a discount with the tenant-in-situ. Expect inspection requirements to ramp up as well.

Now that your tenant has left, it is a good idea to look at this in the round - see post from another tread

We have issued notice to 4 good tenants due to the uncertainty of it all. We are in our 60’s and the inability to get vacant possession should we wish/need to sell has decided us. It has caused us to look more critically at the other expenses a landlord incurs - insurance renewal quote just received yesterday €518 up from €330 last year. Properties aging and needing more repairs. Local council private rental props inspection which can throw up ridiculous requirements- they wanted us to put in wired fire alarm and paint the garden shed! Our agent advised that they were not necessary and argued the case but it has made us realise what may be coming. All in all we feel the time has come for us to get out. I’m sure many other private landlords - particularly at our stage in life feel the same. 6 years is a long time.. and we are not prepared to accept the reduction in value that selling with a tenant-in -situ would mean.
 
Wait until March.

I know a lot of folks are getting out; I still see it as a good investment / income.

Horses for courses.
 
I would also wait. While announced, we don't have the legislation. I would think that there might be some changes before the bill is passed.
I would not take someone on a short-term agreement apart if I was absolutely certain that they would move quickly (for example if the rental was needed during a small renovation...)
 
For a landlord with more than three properties, If someone is getting at or close to market rent and the tenant is leaving now, is it worth re-letting before March.
That way, hopefully you still might be protected by the existing contract if you wish to sell for any reason. If you wait until after March, perhaps you might get a little bit more rent but you will be restricted to selling with tenant in situ. Just wondering regarding the pros and cons of doing this ?
 
landlord - earlier post of mine on a different thread is the possible downside. I personally know landlords who are issuing protective NoTs now, which they may pull later if this doesn't happen. If it wasn't for this possibility, I think you are right - the best type of tenancy for a landlord is one created now at near market rent on the basis that the ability to evict remains.

I haven't seen anything definitive and I thought from the original press release (which is all we have to go on) that the new rules only apply to new tenancies created after 1 March 2026.

I've been increasingly hearing and know some landlords who have already issued NoTs on the basis that this will apply to all tenancies post March. Personally, I would have said the government could not make so fundamental a change to an existing tenancy, but they have done just that with the RPZs.

The short answer is that I haven't seen anything definitive, but this is what I am hearing and I think that anything could happen at this stage so I suppose it is best to act with this possibility in mind also.
 
Greenbook said:
I've been increasingly hearing and know some landlords who have already issued NoTs on the basis that this will apply to all tenancies post March.
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For tenants that have been living in your property for more than eight years (for example) I believe the notice is 224 days. That would have the termination date after March…..
I wonder, If your statement above becomes true, then would the notice to terminate become invalid? Hard to know I guess until we see the legislation.
 
Do we expect that the landlord subject to a pre 1 March 2026 tenancy will still be able to issue a no-fault evication in order to sell? That was what I understood, that only new tenancies entered into after that date were subject to the 6-year no eviction for sale restriction.
 
Villaines said:
Do we expect that the landlord subject to a pre 1 March 2026 tenancy will still be able to issue a no-fault evication in order to sell? That was what I understood, that only new tenancies entered into after that date were subject to the 6-year no eviction for sale restriction.
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That would be my take on this as well, but the devil will be in the detail once the legislation is finalised!
 
You just dont know what they will do but you can be 100% sure, as with all legislation "improvements" so far, it will be the property owner who has less rights and pays for any changes. With that in mind we have an LTL with the council that is up in a few years and will be selling as soon as it is up. Time to get out of this rigged game. It never gets better, just worse and worse and still worse for the property owners.
 
Villaines said:
Do we expect that the landlord subject to a pre 1 March 2026 tenancy will still be able to issue a no-fault evication in order to sell? That was what I understood, that only new tenancies entered into after that date were subject to the 6-year no eviction for sale restriction.
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I suspect they have made it vague so far so that landlords dont all rush to get out because they think they will still have a chance to get out before March. I think they what will happen is that the legislation will be enacted overnight and there will be a lock on all current landlords. I thnk it would be wise to issue NTQ now just to protect yourself and then you can always cancel that NTQ if things are still OK for you after the legislation changes are clear.
 
FWIW, Government confirmed to the IPOA (Irish Property Owners Association) that “Landlords with existing tenancies will retain the right to terminate a tenancy in accordance with the provisions set out in the Residential Tenancies Acts at the time the tenancy was established.”



linkedin.com/posts/ipoa_ipoa-housing-tenancyrights-activity-7361826457666428929-PmMH/
 
stormy said:
linkedin.com/posts/ipoa_ipoa-housing-tenancyrights-activity-7361826457666428929-PmMH/
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Clickable link:
linkedin.com

#ipoa #housing #tenancyrights #landlords #ireland | IPOA Irish Property Owners Association

Clarification on Proposed Tenancy Changes ⚠ The IPOA has been receiving a high volume of calls from members and the public regarding the recent government announcements on the termination of tenancy rules from 1st March next year. We wish to clarify: Current tenancies will NOT be affected by...
linkedin.com linkedin.com
 
It comes back to whether you trust the government to hold to what they say. Weren't we all as good as told that the RPZ were going to be very much eased. They were made permanent and countrywide instead.

We were also told that the draft legislation would be out in July. Then it was November which is very close now and there isn't a peep on this front. Could they produce 'emergency' legislation in February and ram these type of changes through? It might happen.

My view is that you have to take the view that these worst case scenarios could happen. 9 years ago when the RPZs were introduced, did we ever think it would end up like this?
 
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