Private rental reforms introduced to stabilise rents in Ireland

A number of amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 came into effect on 11 December 2015. Increases to rent may only be made once every two years under the legislative reforms, meaning that any tenant who was subject to a rent increase this year will not face another until at least 2017. A period of ninety days must also be observed prior to any rental increase coming into force. The Department of the Environment estimates that the reforms may result in savings of up to €1,656 per year for some tenants. This change is temporary – the 2 year required notice period will only be in effect for four years from the date of commencement of the amendment act. After this, in other words from 3 December 2019, the rent review period will revert back to 12 months.

Changes have also been made to the notice periods which must be given to terminate a lease. Previously, landlords had to observe a minimum notice period of between 28 days and 112 days depending on how long the tenants had lived in the property. Notice periods are now extended to between 28 days for tenancies of six months or shorter and 224 days for tenancies of eight years or longer. These measures came into effect immediately as “priority measures”, the remainder of amendments to the Act will receive formal commencement by the Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly, by 1 January 2016.

In introducing the reforms, Minister Kelly cited the prevalence of private renting amongst young couples, low income earners and families. As such, Mr. Kelly stated that “legislation needs to match the current nature of the housing market in Ireland” to give greater stability and security of tenure to private tenants.

Click here to read the full amendments to the Act.

Click here to read FLAC’s update on the new reforms.

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