LAST UPDATE | 10 Jun

“MAJOR REFORMS” TO the rental sector have been announced by government today which it says is aimed at “boosting investment” to increase the supply of homes. 

Under the changes, rents for existing tenants in the entire country will be brought under the current Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) system. 

However, the RPZ system is set to be altered, with the proposals meaning that there will be some “limited exceptions” to the current 2% cap on rent increases under the RPZ system. 

Minister for Housing James Browne said this afternoon that Cabinet has approved the plans, which include plans for new build apartments to be exempt from the 2% rent increase cap.

Instead, rents in apartments built after a certain date could instead increase in line with inflation.

The government hopes that this move will increase investment in apartment construction by the private sector.

Here are the main points announced today:

• Landlords will be allowed to hike rents in instances where tenants leave homes voluntarily, but not if they are evicted.
• No fault evictions have been banned for landlords who own four or more properties.
• Smaller landlords (up to three properties) can still evict tenants in certain circumstances, such as financial hardship or a desire for an immediate family member to move into the property.
• New tenancies created from 1 March 2026 onwards will be set at market value and offered a six-year minimum rolling tenancy.
• At the end of the six-year tenancy, the rent can be reset and “put back to the market”, meaning the first series of rent resets will take place in 2032.
• Large landlords, defined as having four or more tenancies, will be banned from carrying out no-fault evictions for tenancies beginning from 1 March 2026.
• It will remain prohibited to set a rent above the market rate. Landlords can still sell at any time if they use the tenant-in-situ scheme.

Asked whether the changes will decrease rents and, if so, when, Browne said that the only way to get rents down is by increasing the housing supply: “I expect rents to fall over time. What that particular length of time is, I won’t be able to predict.”

Fines for breaking the rules

Browne said he hopes tenants will report landlords breaking the rules to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which he says he will give increased funding to.

However, tenants may not know how many properties their landlord owns, and therefore won’t be sure of their rights.

Browne said that the government will look at increasing fines for landlords who break rules, but it will have to consult the Attorney General first.

“Nobody should be able to game the system,” he said, stating that no landlord should be willing to pay off a fine because they will make some money on the back end of it through increases rent rates.

He said fines should be “higher” and “substantial” but there are limits in increasing fines before it crosses into the jurisdiction of the courts.

“Resetting of rents will not be allowed following a no-fault eviction. Rent resetting will only be allowed where a tenant leaves a tenancy of their own volition or has breached their tenant obligations,” Browne said.

“Resetting of rents will not be allowed during any tenancy created on or before 28 February 2026 due to the uncertainties it would cause for tenants with existing tenancies,” the minister said.

Many of the changes announced today won’t come into effect until 1 March 2026, to allow the government to pass the required legislation and to communicate the changes to landlords and tenants.

Resourcing and policing RTB

Asked about who would police whether the ban on resetting rents except in the case of no-fault evictions is being adhered to, Browne said it would be the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

There was no detail provided today about increased resourcing for the RTB to beef up their resources. 

“I would hope that people will report landlords who are breaking the law in this respect,” he said. 

When asked about whether a rent register might be established so as to provide transparency to tenants about the rent being charged prior to them, the minister said he would “like to see” a rents register.

“Our rents are way too high in this country, we know that. We know the only way to address that is increasing supply, so we have more competition, and then you will start to see rents go down,” he said. 

‘Supply, supply, supply’

Homelessness reached another record high in April, with 4,675 children having accessed emergency accommodation in that month.

The homelessness figures cover those living in emergency accommodation but not those rough sleeping, refugees, asylum seekers, individuals in domestic violence shelters, or those experiencing “hidden homelessness”, such as sleeping in cars, on couches, or other unsuitable living conditions. 

“I am very conscious of homeless people. We shouldn’t have any homeless people in this country,” said Browne earlier.

“The way to address homelessness, the way [that] people can get homes that they need to live in, is through supply, supply, supply, supply.”

Despite criticism from experts and homelessness charities, Browne says he’s confident his plan will work, as he’s “put an awful lot of thought into it”.

Next week, the Raise the Roof campaign group will hold a demonstration outside Leinster House that is likely to heap further criticism on the government.

The protest is seen as a reboot of the campaign and will coincide with a cross-party private members’ bill calling for emergency action on the housing crisis.