MINISTER FOR HOUSING James Browne has confirmed that there “won’t be any special measures” put in place to protect students renting in the private sector from rising rents. 

Last week, the government announced a new set of measures aimed at alleviating the pressure placed on renters.

Among them was an extension of the rent pressure zones to cover the entire country and new six-year period tenancy agreements, kicking in next March, where landlords are unable to reset the rents for a property within that time period. 

It will also be the case that landlords will only be permitted to increase the rents if a tenant leaves the property voluntarily. 

The latter measure announced by the government immediately gave way to concerns that students, who typically leave a property they are renting at the end of the academic year (around April to May), will be subjected to increased rents on their return to college when they need to rent another or the same property in the private rental sector. 

Browne told reporters that he would be meeting with the Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless later today to “see what proposals we can to ensure that students are protected in student-specific accommodation”.

However, he told reporters today that “in the private rental sector… there won’t be any special measures put in”, confirming that the emergency legislation brought to Cabinet today on rent pressure zones will not deal directly with the issue. 

‘Impossible to police’

He said that it “would be impossible to police or to manage in those circumstances.”

Housing Minister James Browne says he’s treating the housing crisis for what it is, ‘an emergency’, he says. pic.twitter.com/kstX2h37rJ

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 17, 2025

There are around 374,000 students across the island of Ireland, according to the Union of Students Ireland.

Of those, some 179,300 students are enrolled in Higher Education Institutes on a full time basis, according to a paper by the USI in 2024. 

The same paper estimated that around 54,000 students were living in purpose-built student accommodation in 2024. A Bank of Ireland report in 2019 found that around two in three students live at home with their parents while in college.

Private rentals are more common for students in Limerick and Galway, where the amount of purpose built student accommodation is insufficient to house the number of students studying at universities in the cities.

Browne also confirmed today that landlords would not be able to impose penalties for tenants that leave their tenancies before the six-year period is up.

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Concerns had been raised that currently some landlords impose penalties if a tenant leaves their tenancy early. 

“In those circumstances, if the tenant voluntary leaves, that landlord is going to be able to reset the rent. So there is no loss, in my view,” he said, stating that such a move would be “punishing the tenant” and as minister, he will not let that happen. 

When asked what advice he would give to renters who do not yet fall into rent pressure zone rules, but whose landlords are not moving swiftly to review the rent before the new rules kick in, the minister said: 

“What I always say to all the tenants, your rights are there in law. I know some tenants maybe may not be aware of that.”

He advised them to reach out to renters’ organisation Threshold, their local councillor or TD who would “certainly ensure that your rights are put in place”.

The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2025 is expected to pass all stages in the Oireachtas and be ready to be signed into law by the end of the week.

With reporting by Christina Finn