This is VERY serious. If a couple of years down the line your rent setting is deemed invalid during a dispute, would you be liable to pay the tenant back years of rent. Then it would be imperative to have certainty your rent setting was watertight, by taking an RTB case against yourself on its validity.
RTB Rent Register
- Thread starter Sr. Tayto
- Start date
Exactly, and to state the obvious one could have up to 55% tax* paid over to Revenue, and they won't be issuing any refunds outside of the 4 year window...
I do think it truly is a high risk activity now to be invested in the PRS in Ireland.
*40% tax + 4% PRSI + 8% USC +3% USC Surcharge on unearned income
Alan Shatter is 100% correct.
What is confusing me is when does a tenancy commence? That's very important as the tenant and the RTB must be served with the correct form or forms and all the additional information all 100% correct on the day the tenancy commences. If you serve on the wrong day, the rent charged is invalid.
When does a tenancy commence? When the lease is signed, when the tenant gets the key, when the tenant moves in and takes possession, before the formal lease when the landlord and tenant agree the tenancy, some other time?
Is this explained in the Act?
I tried looking in the consolidated act yesterday, I could not find a clear definition. But I'm no legal expert.
From the date agreed surely, you can sign the lease beforehand. Sometimes, though unlikely, you would sign after it starts. But your lease start date would be the one agreed with the tenant.
Always wondered about that because of the six months occupancy rule to gain part4 rights.
If an employment contract is agreed and signed in Nov but the job doesn’t start until 01Jan, the employee is not paid until they actually work. For all sorts of employment laws, the work start date is the relevant date not the agreement date.
Is the right to occupy date the relevant date, because rent is paid whether the tenant moves in or not.
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Very likely the case, but you'll have to make sure in advance that you are free that particular day to complete the forms, gather all the information together and serve it all on both the tenant and the RTB. You only have a 24 hour window to do this or your rent is invalid and possibly uncollectible!
Absolutely crazy, and we still aren't 100% sure that this is the actual commencement date!
Some people were asking if the Two Forms (1) Rent Setting and (2) Rent Review are available together on the RTB website
They are available together on the RTB website under resources/category/rent-reviews/
The Rent Setting Form is completed at the start of a New Tenancy that commences on or after 1 March 2026
The Rent Review Form is used to review the rent for any Tenancy where the same tenant remains in occupation. Note the Rent Review Form has been changed since 1 March, and make sure you are using the correct, latest version of this Form if you are carrying our any Rent Review from 1 March onwards.
For both Forms, the Landlord must refer to 3 x comparators taken from the Rent Register. The comparators need to be "similar" but not identical.
They are available together on the RTB website under resources/category/rent-reviews/
The Rent Setting Form is completed at the start of a New Tenancy that commences on or after 1 March 2026
The Rent Review Form is used to review the rent for any Tenancy where the same tenant remains in occupation. Note the Rent Review Form has been changed since 1 March, and make sure you are using the correct, latest version of this Form if you are carrying our any Rent Review from 1 March onwards.
For both Forms, the Landlord must refer to 3 x comparators taken from the Rent Register. The comparators need to be "similar" but not identical.
Do you have to include 3 Daft ads as well or is it just the 3 comparators from the Register that you have to use?
Thanks Gerard
after 590 post things are a little clearer now
I was going to seek proper advice anyway ,
I often say been a Landlord for the long haul is like farming for the long haul, You could go out and buy a farm the cost would be the same the income will depend on the type of farming method you use it for sheep/cattle/tillage/Dairy, no point in going out and getting 3 comparations of the returns unless you know what method of farming was carried out in all 3 cases,
as an example about 15 year ago I bought one of 2 housed that was for sale in the same estate both were bought by landlords I would say I bought the best one because it was south facing had sun for most of the day but well lived in by tenants who had moved out I renter it out almost straight away showing a very good return on price paid to this day,
The other landlord went down a different road and hired an agent to look after it @20% of rent,
agent advice was to spend quite a lot of money before reletting and finished up getting more rent but finished having more gaps in rental income over time,
If I went into the RTB site I would include the house in the estate as one of 3 for the register however my knowledge of the local market and how I operate within it I would not use it to set reset rent,
One thing Landlords need to keep in the back of their minds up until now a tenant would look up Daft to see if they are over charged now their first port of call will be the RTB ,
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In Gerard Nicholas Murphy BL's @Gerard0 online presentation today - which was excellent - he gave the view that the "3 comparators" you have to give to the RTB when setting rent do not have to be in the same local electoral area, and he also suggested making queries with alternative BERs than your own property, to give a wider range of comparables to chose from.
He also quoted from the RTB's website that they intend to analyse data to identify cases where landlords have broken the rent control rules.
He also quoted from the RTB's website that they intend to analyse data to identify cases where landlords have broken the rent control rules.
Is this just going above 2% or have they indicated that they will be identifying cases where landlords have granted new tenancies at above market rate?
I screenshotted this from the presentation, I understand this is direct quote from the RTB FAQs.
Does this apply to rent reviews for continuing pre-March 26 tenancies?
If so, then presumably *by definition* any attempted 2% increase in rent on the highest rent (ie usually the nicest) property of a given type/area will be flagged as exceeding market rent by the RTB. What happens to that rental contract?
Gerard
and the most important part do they contact the tenant I suspect not but I am interested if and when they may do so,
It must be a deliberate strategy to keep a lid on rents. That's the reason for their complete focus on this Register and not on Daft ads which will show a completely different picture.
The RTB is trying to force a situation where we've lost the right to sell with vacant possession in return for the right to rent at RPZ rent levels.
On Daft.ie there are 17 houses for rent in the entire county of Donegal. Asking rents range from 1000 to 3500 (plus a one-bed house for 500).
Using the data of these houses, I looked up comparables from the rent register.
Quite a number of the asking rents are far in excess of the highest comparables, which in most areas range up to 1500 at most.
A few examples:
Asking price 2450Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1350, 1300, 1200
Asking price 1750Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1550, 1150, 1100
Asking price 1900Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1500, 1400, 1350
Asking price 1200Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1380, 1350, 1300
In built-up areas where there is a lot of rented accomodation, it's likely to be not too hard to find comparables to support your "market rent". But this Donegal examples shows that in rural areas, you will struggle to find comparables in the rent register. Especially when you have larger properties in good condition, which is often the case in rural areas. Rent setting allows you to consider the "character" of the property, but the rent register provides no information about the character of the comparables. It will be essential to get an EA's valuation.
Using the data of these houses, I looked up comparables from the rent register.
Quite a number of the asking rents are far in excess of the highest comparables, which in most areas range up to 1500 at most.
A few examples:
Asking price 2450Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1350, 1300, 1200
Asking price 1750Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1550, 1150, 1100
Asking price 1900Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1500, 1400, 1350
Asking price 1200Eur, top 3 comparables from the rent register 1380, 1350, 1300
In built-up areas where there is a lot of rented accomodation, it's likely to be not too hard to find comparables to support your "market rent". But this Donegal examples shows that in rural areas, you will struggle to find comparables in the rent register. Especially when you have larger properties in good condition, which is often the case in rural areas. Rent setting allows you to consider the "character" of the property, but the rent register provides no information about the character of the comparables. It will be essential to get an EA's valuation.
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patfert the only comparable possible would be brand new (as in the last week or so) fresh lettings of properties not rent controlled. Stale rentals from weeks, months and years ago should not be in that list. Neither should rents entered as a result or rent reviews, nor should any discounted rents like charities or cost rentals etc be in that list.
It is an impossibility that any property in that tool reflects current market price.
It is an impossibility that any property in that tool reflects current market price.