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BACK IN 2015, the then-government introduced a law requiring landlords to store deposits with the Residential Tenancies Board – but the measure was never implemented.
As part of the 2015 Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act, the scheme aimed to safeguard renters’ deposits and resolve disputes. Similar schemes have worked successfully in other countries, and the Irish law looked set to follow suit.
Since then, however, disputes over deposits have become more common, not less. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) logged over 1,800 deposit-related requests in 2024 — a 65% increase on the 2021 figure.
Housing charity Threshold has been fielding an average of three such requests a day this year.
“Renters often feel anxious about when or even if they will get their deposit back,” Threshold’s campaigns officer Cat Clark told The Journal.
Before the Dáil went on recess, TD Catherine Connolly asked Housing Minister James Browne for a timeline on the scheme.
“Significant changes have taken place in the rental market since this legislation was passed,” he told her.
He noted that the Housing Agency has carried out an examination into the creation of a system of holding rental deposits, and he is “presently considering its contents and the options the Agency has outlined”.
“It is important that any measures introduced in the rental sector are done so in a fair, measured and balanced manner,” he said.
Earlier this year, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy initiated a one-page bill to expedite the implementation of the 2015 legislation, while Threshold circulated another bill among TDs proposing an adjusted version of the mothballed framework and campaigned on 11 college campuses across the country.
So what exactly happened to the plan to make sure renters’ deposits were protected? And how did it get sidelined for a decade?
As of 2021, a landlord can ask for no more than one month’s rent as a security deposit – a more stringent limit than many European countries.
However, the landlord is not required to keep this in a designated, insolvency-proof account, as is the case in Germany, Belgium and the UK, among other countries.
If the tenant has fulfilled their obligations, the landlord is legally required to return the deposit ‘promptly’ at the end of a tenancy.
If the landlord retains the deposit without cause, the tenant can take it up with the RTB.
The law is clear that normal wear and tear is not a valid reason for retaining any portion of the deposit.
It is difficult to estimate how many cases go unreported and there are no exact figures available. However, deposit retention was the most common case brought by tenants to the RTB over the period 2019-25.
In 2021 Threshold described the practice of unlawful deposit retention as “widespread”.
In the same year, the RTB ruled the tenant should be refunded either all or a portion of their deposit in 94% of disputed cases.
Tenants can submit for either mediation or adjudication with the RTB, taking an average of seven or 17 weeks respectively.
If the free mediation service does not result in an agreement, the parties can instead try adjudication, which results in a determination that is legally binding.
Damages can be awarded for unlawful retention of a deposit. In a recent decision, €500 in damages was awarded in addition to the full return of a deposit of around €2,000.
Since 2007, the UK has had a radically different system.
Instead of going in to the landlord’s all-purpose bank account, deposits must, by law, be either stored with or insured with a specialised third-party provider – a kind of bank for deposits – who also provide access to independent adjudicators should a landlord-tenant disagreement arise.
If the landlord does not produce proof of this lodgement within the first month, tenants can bring them to court and the tenant may win compensation to the value of between one and three times the original deposit.
At the end of the tenancy, if the landlord claims damages, the tenant is asked to submit counter-evidence.
The landlord must itemise, evidence, and cost each item, and the tenants account of events must be integrated.
An independent adjudicator issues a decision and releases the money as they see fit, usually within 28 days.
With one UK deposit protection provider, TDS, tenants were awarded an average of 79% of their deposit in disputed cases.
Crucially, the landlord’s power to determine the fate of the deposit does not go unchecked.
It is also more time-efficient as the dispute is registered as soon as it happens and the resolution process can begin.
In the current Irish system, third-party adjudication can only be secured if the tenant has sufficient faith in the system to contact the RTB.
Some tenants simply accept the loss as a feature of renting life and move on, a full month’s rent further away from being able to escape the rent trap.
Threshold observed that, for the first time, over half of 35-39 year olds are still renting, according to the most recent census, so the cumulative amount of money that a person could lose on deposits over a lifetime is greater than ever.
Ireland’s answer to the UK’s tenancy deposit scheme was written in to Fine Gael/Labour’s 2011 Programme for Government, more than a decade ago.
“We will establish a tenancy deposit protection scheme to put an end to disputes regarding the return of deposits,” it said.
A figure of €1.2 million was set aside in Budget 2016 for the establishment of the scheme “including IT development costs, system analysis and design and build costs.”
In 2017, when the deadline for the scheme’s activation had come and gone, Simon Coveney told the Dáil “The scheme was originally intended to be financed by the interest payable on deposits lodged; this is no longer viable given the current financial market conditions.”
Given the funding model Fine Gael chose, a certain amount of market fluctuation was inevitable, and the initial 2011 commitment to the scheme was not tied to a requirement that it would be self-funding.
In a 2019 RTE News report, following calls from Threshold and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to implement the scheme, a government spokesperson warned “a deposit scheme couldn’t involve imposing an extra charge on landlords or tenants.”
Previously, there was no question of landlords or tenants directly paying for the scheme.
Threshold’s Cat Clarke noted “In Scotland, a survey of renters and landlords found that a majority of landlords felt their deposit protection scheme was fair. Why can’t Ireland have a similar system?”
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