New Residential Tenancies Bill

[Greenbook]

My sibling is getting non stop inspections, the latest item they 'found' needs doing is a lock on the bathroom door,

This is incredible stuff. Millions is being spent on this and these are the types of issues being picked up.

My properties failed due to weedy gardens and cracked tiles, stuff like that, which had zero impact on the tenant's quality of life.

The is a thread elsewhere here on a Peter McVerry property with knotweed, broken central heating for 18 months, dangerous wiring, mould, damp and pharoah ants. It seems never to have been inspected at all.

It is much easier to torment us compliant landlords who run our businesses properly.

 

[Greenbook]

This new Housing and Residential Tenancies Bill is passing out of the Dail and on to the Seanad this evening.

As far as I can tell the Housing aspects have been discussed in detail, but no one has examined or debated the residential tenancies parts at all. This is despite the fact that there are some very important changes there - longer prison terms for landlords if nothing else.

 

[stormy]

This new Housing and Residential Tenancies Bill is passing out of the Dail and on to the Seanad this evening.

Thanks @Greenbook

Report Stage Amendments were published yesterday.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2026/58/?tab=amendments

Yet again more punches to the gut for accommodation providers. The s.9 prosecution window is tripled (amendment 27). So, on top of the 6 months imprisonment increasing to 12 months , the Government (your FF/FG TDs) are extending the time limit for bringing summary proceedings from one year to 3 years.

So, not only is the maximum sentence doubled but now the RTB gets three times as long to prosecute. Yet another significant, landlord adverse, addition.

These latest proposals also allow for the exemption of shed-sits from the RTA. So there you go, the accommodation provider that provides full spec housing is subject to the exceptionally onerous RTA, but the person that sticks up a shed in their back garden has no such shackles. Unbelievable really.

The opposition have also got their proposed amendments in, but I suspect will fail so no point flagging here other than to remind everyone they would place even more burdens on accommodation providers.

 

[Greenbook]

This demonstrates that things are not going to get any better for the PRS. The screws will continue to tighten.

Does any other country in the world have so many criminal penalties attaching to renting out a property. I doubt it very much.

 

[stormy]

This demonstrates that things are not going to get any better for the PRS. The screws will continue to tighten.

Indeed.

The s.9 prosecution window is tripled (amendment 27).

Worth flagging that this proposal comes from the An tAire Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta - so the onslaught of provision of criminal convictions for those who try to provide accommodation in a housing crisis, is coming from the housing minister himself (James Browne).

I've not watched the debates, but it's interesting to note it's not the traditional left intent on finding ways to imprison housing providers. Seems to be the new left (FF/FG) driving this criminalisation.

 

[Greenbook]

I've not watched the debates, but it's interesting to note it's not the traditional left intent on finding ways to imprison housing providers. Seems to be the new left (FF/FG) driving this criminalisation.

No point watching the debates. There wasn't one as far as I can tell on the residential tenancy aspects (very short speech at the start by one of the Housing Ministers and that was it). There seems to be a consensus across the political divide, in the Department of Housing, in the RTB, that landlords just can't help themselves, we'll engage in criminal activities vis-a-vis our tenants given any chance at all, hence the plethora of criminal liabilities in the Residential Tenancies Acts.

This is astonishing considering that most ordinary landlords are now approaching old age and our only encounters with 'the law' were likely for illegal parking or doing 40 in a 30 mile zone.

Keep in mind also that it is now very easy to commit a criminal offence by missing something in a form.

 

[Bronte]

As a country that tends to copy our neighbors on legislation this is pretty frightening as a landlord

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/buy-to-let/reletting-ban-100000-landlord-properties/

Angela Rayner’s reletting ban on rental properties will leave 100,000 landlords unable to sell or rent, data suggests.

Under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act, which took effect on May 1, if a landlord regains possession of a rental property in order to sell, they cannot relet it for 12 months.

But analysis has revealed that more than half of rental properties (51pc) put on the market last year failed to sell.

Estate agency Hamptons found that if the rental reforms had been in place last year, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 unsold properties would have been barred from taking on tenants.

Hamptons said the 12-month reletting ban risked leaving landlords “in limbo” with rental properties that cannot be sold or rented out.

 

[stormy]

Under Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act, which took effect on May 1, if a landlord regains possession of a rental property in order to sell, they cannot relet it for 12 months.

Why is this frightening? Large landlords in Ireland never even get the option to get back vacant possession to sell. Small landlords in Ireland only get it once every 6 years.

Those are high quality problems the English landlords have. Irish landlords rights are so restricted the issue will almost never arise.

 

[stormy]

The Bill has now cleared all Dáil stages and moved to the Seanad.

Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026

Amendments

www.oireachtas.ie

https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2026/58/seanad/3/amendment/numberedList/eng/b58b26d-scnl.pdf

Accommodation providers vilified once again. Longer prison sentences, a tripled window to prosecute them, and a raft of new fines. And not a word in any media outlet. Very much a sign of the times, and perhaps a telling illustration of why the housing crisis exists in the first place.

 

[Greenbook]

Accommodation providers vilified once again. Longer prison sentences, a tripled window to prosecute them, and a raft of new fines. And not a word in any media outlet. Very much a sign of the times, and perhaps a telling illustration of why the housing crisis exists in the first place.

Yes, I was talking to an auctioneer yesterday evening. I was viewing a small commercial property that is for sale. He said that he hasn't had a sale to residential investor in well over a year. He had lots of sale by them though.

He also said that there is huge interest in small commercial properties. He told me when I booked the viewing that he would give us one of his available 'slots' that day. I didn't believe him that he had so much interest that he was using a slot system. I think now he was telling the truth, there were certainly people viewing before and after us.

It doesn't take a genius to see what is happening. Residential investors are moving their capital elsewhere as the PRS is toxic for the ordinary people at this stage.

 

[JamieB_]

Yes, I was talking to an auctioneer yesterday evening. I was viewing a small commercial property that is for sale. He said that he hasn't had a sale to residential investor in well over a year. He had lots of sale by them though.

He also said that there is huge interest in small commercial properties. He told me when I booked the viewing that he would give us one of his available 'slots' that day. I didn't believe him that he had so much interest that he was using a slot system. I think now he was telling the truth, there were certainly people viewing before and after us.

It doesn't take a genius to see what is happening. Residential investors are moving their capital elsewhere as the PRS is toxic for the ordinary people at this stage.

Just from talking to people left with investment properties who I know, all are planning on selling up. Some are just waiting for tenants to leave but plan to sell when they do. Now they are even considering giving NOT just in case they cant with another rule change. I have spoken to people selling up and planning to put cabins in their gardens instead or even buy in Spain or Portugal to rent during the summer and go over themselves during the winter.
Basically, any alternative to Irish rental property, but all getting out or Irish rentals.

 

[stormy]

Update - it's law. Signed by the President yesterday (23 July 2026)

Government rejected every opposition amendment in both Houses and pushed it through before the recess.

Bear in mind, signed is not the same as in force. The Act commences by ministerial order, section by section, so these provisions bite only as the Minister switches them on.

To summarise:

• Maximum prison sentence has doubled for accommodation providers: penalty under s.9 of the 2004 Act rises from 6 months to 12 months, with the fine up to a class A fine (€5,000)
• Window to prosecute has tripled. Time limit for bringing summary proceedings goes from one year to three years.
• New suite of on-the-spot fines.
  • Fail to copy the RTB on your rent setting statement within a month €100 (up to €500)
  • Rent setting breaches €200 (up to €1,000)
  • Registration failures — €100 (up to €500)
• Power to enter your property. The RTB can enter and inspect a dwelling on consent or a District Court warrant, using reasonable force (s.145)
• Registration fees index linked. RTB's own charges rise automatically with inflation (however the vast majority of accommodation providers are not allowed to rise their rents with inflation)

The direction of travel is unmistakable - more fines, more criminal exposure, longer to be pursued, powers of entry, increased fees rising faster than income, all landing on the people actually providing homes.

We now need to watch for the commencement orders - that's when each of these actually takes effect.

President Connolly signs the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 | President of Ireland

Welcome to the website of the President of Ireland.

president.ie

 

[Greenbook]

The direction of travel is unmistakable - more fines, more criminal exposure, longer to be pursued, powers of entry, increased fees rising faster than income, all landing on the people actually providing homes.

100% correct and powers of entry into people's properties is a frightening power for a body like the RTB to have.

It was the same with the first Residential Tenancies Act 2026. It was pushed through very quickly without any real discussion. Exactly the same thing a happened here. No discussion about whether increasingly criminalising landlords is a good idea or not.

 

[bipped]

No discussion about whether increasingly criminalising landlords is a good idea or not.

Seems like a very short sighted approach from the minister but maybe there’s more votes from renters than landlords in his neck of the woods.

 

[Greenbook]

Seems like a very short sighted approach from the minister but maybe there’s more votes from renters than landlords in his neck of the woods.

I don't think it is vote getting to be honest. This Bill was passed into law very quietly without any fanfare or publicity. I'd say 99% of tenants are unaware of it completely.

I honestly think at this stage that the Department of Housing and the RTB think that only semi-criminal types become landlords and that without stringent criminal oversight we'll be involved in all sorts of nefarious activities against our tenants. Hence the latest need to bust into premises without warning to discover what the landlord is up to now.

 

[LarryScott]

I honestly think at this stage that the Department of Housing and the RTB think that only semi-criminal types become landlords and that without stringent criminal oversight we'll be involved in all sorts of nefarious activities against our tenants.

There is an argument that they only see situations where there is a dispute, so maybe they have a skewed perspective.

That would be the most charitable view.

 

[stormy]

Update. Many of these new RTB enforcement powers against landlords come into effect 14 Sept. (Act No. 33 of 2026, S.I. 434/2026).

For the sake of clarity, these are different, and additional to new rules that came into effect on 1 March 26.

Parts coming live:

• Max fine up from €3,000 to €5,000
• Max prison term up from 6 to 12 months
• Daily fine for continuing offences up from €250 to €1,000
• RTB gets 3 years instead of 1 to prosecute
• Six new fixed payment notices, all landlord-facing:
  • €200 for over-cap rent
  • €200 for missing the rent-reset exemption notice
  • €200 for not copying a rent review to the RTB
  • €100 each for non-registration, late register updates, and not filing rent-setting info
• FPN amounts can be raised to €500/€1,000
• Adjudications now public by default (your name and dispute history visible end to end)
• Still in reserve: RTB warrant-based entry and inspection powers (s.56) (awaiting a later order presumably)

Worth noting: all six of the new fixed payment notice regimes apply to landlords only. None of the new enforcement machinery attaches to tenant obligations.

 

[Greenbook]

Worth noting: all six of the new fixed payment notice regimes apply to landlords only. None of the new enforcement machinery attaches to tenant obligations.

Yes, there are no misbehaving tenants only misbehaving landlords.

I expect these imprisonments and fines to start coming thick and fast shortly. The new rules are not ushering in a nirvana of abundant and cheap rentals as promised. The government and the RTB will have to be seen to be 'doing something' about this and prosecuting evil criminal landlords is one easy answer.

 

[IR_ExPat]

I am about to close a sale of one of my 2 previously rented units and the other will follow in 2027. 2 units gone from the rental market in Central Dublin. Its simply not worth it anymore (if it ever was).