Did you know your warning notice has to go to the RTB too?

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stormy

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TR0001361determined March 2026. Worth reading if you serve your own notices.

https://rtb.ie/disputes/dispute-outcomes-and-orders/adjudication-and-tribunal-orders/?_search=TR0001361
An apartment in Lucan, €1,950 a month, let from December 2024. The tenant paid the first month, then a few intermittent top ups, and nothing at all since 31 October 2025. Arrears at the hearing were over €12k.

The landlord served an arrears warning notice in April 2025, then a 28 day notice of termination in June - to the tenant by hand and email, and to the RTB by email the same day.

The Tribunal accepted the notice of termination complied in form and content with s.62, and that the copy reached the RTB the same day under s.39A(1). Both correct.

Invalid anyway. The warning notice was not served on the RTB and in the Tribunal's own words, the landlord was never entitled to serve a valid notice of termination at all, regardless of whether the arrears were cleared within the 28 days.

The result: no possession, the tenancy continues, landlord has full responsibilities to the tenant, arrears of over €12k, and most likely the debt grows by €1,950 per month. The tenant didn't attend the hearing and didn't answer the phone when the case officer rang.

The landlord here now starts from zero again. Fresh warning notice, fresh 28 days, fresh notice of termination, fresh dispute if contested, probably a fresh appeal to a tribunal. Hope and prayers no new trap to catch them up. On the RTB's timelines, that's at least another year, and arrears probably well past €30,000 before possession is even arguable.

This wasn't a first timer winging it. It was a property fund presumably with a team of professionals. Most people know the notice of termination must be copied to the RTB the same day. Far fewer know the warning notice carries its own service requirement.

Note too that the €500 a month payment schedule of the arrears was set with the tenant absent - no evidence of income or capacity to pay at all. No fine or penalty for the tenant.

A separate case last month put a tenant on €50 a month against arrears of €1,190. Ten times the debt here, and both schedules land at roughly two years, which suggests these are calibrated to a duration rather than to what's owed or what the tenant can actually pay.
 
No I did not know that the Warning Notice had to be sent to the RTB but I do now. Thank you Stormy. AAM has been invaluable in educating me on many aspects that we landlords need to keep up with. Your link is not working


I'm surprised that an institutional landlord didn't get the procedures done correctly. The tenant went into arrears pretty much immediately. The landlord will never see a penny and has as you say another year or more of this.

As I've stated on here before, landlords need to understand all the current rules, serve the correct documents, need the guidance of an organisation like the IPOA etc. Most solicitors will not take on RTB cases.
 
Wavelly said:
It's really worrying how many traps there are for landlords, and it seems to be almost impossible to serve a valid notice of termination, even in such an obvious case of the tenant being in the wrong.
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Plus keep in mind that if you are terminating to sell at year 6 under the new rules, you only have one shot at it. Mess up that even slightly and the tenant is in for a further 6 years.

Bronte said:
As I've stated on here before, landlords need to understand all the current rules, serve the correct documents, need the guidance of an organisation like the IPOA etc. Most solicitors will not take on RTB cases.
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That is what I have heard as well. I think in some other thread a poster who must be a solicitor said they'll deal with terminations etc. for existing clients and even then somewhat unwillingly.

It is incredible. We struggle to get legal assistance while the tenant has taxpayer funded Threshold for free and a sympathetic RTB.
stormy said:
The result: no possession, the tenancy continues, landlord has full responsibilities to the tenant, arrears of over €12k, and most likely the debt grows by €1,950 per month. The tenant didn't attend the hearing and didn't answer the phone when the case officer rang.
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And zero consequences for the tenant. The landlord made a technical mistake and is being punished. The tenant is refusing to pay rent and not engaging. Nothing happens to him.
 
Bronte said:
As I've stated on here before, landlords need to understand all the current rules, serve the correct documents, need the guidance of an organisation like the IPOA etc. Most solicitors will not take on RTB cases.
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Unfortunately, there is a vast amount of nonsense rules which change the whole time, we've had two Residential Tenancies Acts, so far this year. It is impossible for an ordinary person to fully understand or keep up with the rules. Solicitors avoid Residential Tenancies law for this reason also, too complicated, too counterintuitive, too many traps, they'll get sued by the landlord if they get it wrong and it is very easy for that to happen.

The landlord in the case is institutional. It can plough on, get the tenant out and write off the loss. It has plenty of money. The small landlord with a mortgage would be financially sunk by this.
 
Greenbook said:
Plus keep in mind that if you are terminating to sell at year 6 under the new rules, you only have one shot at it. Mess up that even slightly and the tenant is in for a further 6 years.
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It seems likely to be the case, but we won't actually know that until someone actually tries it. That can't happen until March 2032, plus whatever time to actually get the cases heard by the RTB.

And as you say, there is also the relatively high risk that the law will be changed before then. The government is making sure to keep adding new landmines.
 
Greenbook said:
Plus keep in mind that if you are terminating to sell at year 6 under the new rules, you only have one shot at it. Mess up that even slightly and the tenant is in for a further 6 years.
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Not quite the same or as bad, but we have a pre 2022 tenancy that will be reaching the end of its 6 year cycle in May 2027.

We are strongly considering ending the tenancy at the end of 6 years because it means we don't have to sign a statutory declaration to sell (even through we probably will sell). However from reading all the cases on the RTB it seems very likely our agent will manage to get something trivial wrong, which will invalidate the NoT. I wonder then does it automatically convert to a tenancy of unlimited duration, or do we get another shot to get it right. It will be interesting to find out!
 
Wavelly said:
However from reading all the cases on the RTB it seems very likely our agent will manage to get something trivial wrong, which will invalidate the NoT
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Indeed. It's clear from the determinations that even professionals are getting caught by these traps.

Wavelly said:
I wonder then does it automatically convert to a tenancy of unlimited duration, or do we get another shot to get it right.
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On your second question. If you only discover the defect after May 27, you won't have time to serve a fresh notice before the Further Part 4 commences. At that point the tenant has a tenancy of unlimited duration, with rent capped at the lower of inflation or 2%, while you continue to carry every cost at market rate for the life of the tenant.

What I'd do is serve the notice now, and the following day refer a dispute to the RTB on its validity yourself. If their timelines allow, you find out well before May 27 whether it stands up, and if there's a defect you still have time to re-serve. The RTB is exceptionally slow, so the earlier you start that clock the better.
 
stormy said:
There are minimum notice periods, but no maximum.
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That seems exploitable. It would allow a landlord to issue a notice the day after the tenancy starts.

Could a landlord send a notice that that they intend their child to move in 2 years after the tenancy starts.

Day 1: tenancy starts
Day 2: notice of termination for child move-in 2 years after the tenancy starts
Day 3: challenge the notice

If they prevail, then they get their notice locked in as valid within a few months of the tenancy starting.

In theory, they might be able to get a determination from the RTB within the 6 months probationary period. Is it required to wait until after the probationary period to send a non-probationary NoT?
 
LarryScott said:
That seems exploitable
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Sorry I should have clarified. There is no maximum notice period on NOTs to end a Part 4 tenancy. The Part 4 tenancy only comes into effect after the tenant being in occupation for 6 months.

To end a tenancy within the first 6 months, the notice period must be exactly 90 days. 1 day less or more invalidates the NOT. The notice period starts counting from the day after service.


(For tenancies less than 6 months, 90 days is the floor from s.66 Table 1 and 90 is also the ceiling from s.65(4))

Really tricky stuff to navigate.
 
Wavelly said:
However from reading all the cases on the RTB it seems very likely our agent will manage to get something trivial wrong
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Well everything is on you so I'd be supervising this very carefully. Maybe when the time comes put up the notice on here (deleting private details) and we can all run thru it.
Wavelly said:
I wonder then does it automatically convert to a tenancy of unlimited duration
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No idea. Keep an eye on the RTB decisions to see how it's working out.
 
stormy said:
What I'd do is serve the notice now, and the following day refer a dispute to the RTB on its validity yourself. If their timelines allow, you find out well before May 27 whether it stands up, and if there's a defect you still have time to re-serve. The RTB is exceptionally slow, so the earlier you start that clock the better.
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I agree with this approach. It's an approach that worked for me.
 
Bronte said:
Are you certain it has to be exactly 90 days? I thought the advice was to give yourself some extra days, so that the minimum was never less than 90?
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Yes, but only for Tenancies of less than 6 months.

I referenced the relevant parts of the legislation above.

It's also on the RTB documentation.




 
Bronte said:
Well everything is on you so I'd be supervising this very carefully. Maybe when the time comes put up the notice on here (deleting private details) and we can all run thru it.
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Yes I agree - I will definitely be asking for a draft copy of the NoT before it’s issued, and checking they know to issue to RTB the same day. I think there is more knowledge in this forum than most industry professionals would have at this stage!
 
stormy said:
For tenancies less than 6 months, 90 days is the floor from s.66 Table 1 and 90 is also the ceiling from s.65(4))
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Do you mean this:


65.—(1) This Chapter states the period of notice to be given by a notice of termination.
(2) Nothing in this Chapter is to be read as requiring the period of notice concerned to be actually mentioned in the notice of termination; compliance with section 62 (1)(f) (which relates to the termination date) suffices for the purposes of communicating the length of notice being given.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), a greater period of notice than that required by this Chapter may be given if the landlord or tenant (as appropriate) so chooses.
(4) If the duration of the tenancy concerned is less than 6 months, a period of notice of more than 70 days may not be given in respect of it.


From this link

Residential Tenancies Act 2004, Section 65

The electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB) comprises the Acts of the Oireachtas (Parliament), Statutory Instruments, Legislation Directory, Constitution and a limited number of pre-1922 Acts.
www.irishstatutebook.ie
 
Same link but with section 66, where is the 90 days? Have I the wrong legislation?


TABLE 1​
Termination by Landlord​
Duration of Tenancy​
Notice Period​
(1)​
(2)​
Less than 6 months
28 days​
6 or more months but less than 1 year
35 days​
1 year or more but less than 2 years
42 days​
2 years or more but less than 3 years
56 days​
3 years or more but less than 4 years
84 days​
4 or more years
112 days​
 
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