A COUPLE IN Galway city were charged close to €14,000 for a year’s renting in added-on service charges by their landlord, but received only a fraction of that amount back after appealing it to the rental watchdog.

Broken down on a monthly basis, the tenants were charged almost €1,200 every month in service charges on top of similarly priced rent.

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the case underscores the need for clearer rules around such charges, while a renters’ union criticised how the charges can often be a grey area for tenants.

For rental properties, service charges are mandatory fees paid to landlords for maintenance.

They differ from management fees that often feature in new housing estates, where homeowners are charged fees to cover landscaping of communal areas or bin collections.

While the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) says that landlords should provide receipts and bills to the tenant to break down what the charges pay for, it does not set any rules around this and instead calls the approach a ‘matter of good practice’ in tenancy agreements.

Ó Broin told The Journal that the case shows “the urgent need for a clearer definition of rent” in the Residential Tenancies Act.

“Any statutory definition of rent must include all charges including service charges,” the Dublin Midwest TD said.

“The combined total of these charges must be covered by rent regulations.”

Ó Broin added that there was a danger that landlords could “circumvent rent regulations” via the addition of service charges.

“Any tenant who feels that their landlord is trying to do this should talk to Threshold or their local political representative to get advice and ultimately lodge a dispute with the RTB to ensure that both the law and their rights are upheld.”

The Community Action and Tenants’ Union, known as Catu, told The Journal that the high service charges risk “making a mockery” of the protections that renters have against rising rents.

Speaking broadly, the union’s Galway branch said that they can too easily allow landlords to “bypass limited rent controls and tack on higher and higher prices for basic things such as access to parking spaces or ‘upkeep of the property’, but with little clear benefit seen for the money”. 

The RTB struck an agreement with the landlord that he pay the tenants €2,000 in return after closing the case during mediation before the dispute made its way to a full hearing.

It came before the RTB after the tenant lodged an official complaint. Under rules governing how the regulator operates, the RTB can finalise cases during mediation with agreement from the parties.

Under the terms of RTB mediation hearings, parties involved cannot be named.

The case related to that of two professionals who rented an apartment in Galway from June 2024 to July 2025.

Under the lease they were required to pay a total of €2,300 per month, structured as €1,136 rent and a mandatory €1,164 service charge.

The renters accepted this arrangement initially as one of the couple was beginning a one-year contract for work in Galway.

In documentation seen by The Journal, both parties argued their cases over the payment of the charges during an RTB mediation hearing earlier this year.

At the meeting, an agent for the landlord put forward that the service charge covered bins, parking, keeping service staff on retainer, and said it was needed because he had to pay tax.

The landlord’s agent further claimed that the service charges should not be included in calculations for whether the property had breached Rental Pressure Zone rules, which cap the amount a landlord can charge every year.

The tenants claimed that the charge was not optional, with no itemised breakdown or receipts, and alleged it was an attempt to circumvent RPZ rent caps.

Documents show the landlord agreed “to pay the tenants the sum of €2,000″ with the reasons for the adjudicator’s decision not given. 

Cost of renting in Galway

Market rent recorded by the RTB at the time, in 2024, ranged between €1,365 for existing tenancies to €1,700 for new tenancies.

Galway city’s high rents were flagged by the regulator last year as of concern, leading to the RTB holding a forum with landlords and housing advocates to try and understand the factors behind the increasing costs.

According to renters’ group Catu, the skyrocketing cost of renting in Galway has become “beyond unsustainable” for many.

What does the RTB say about service charges?

According to the Residential Tenancies Board, if a tenant is being asked to pay charges in addition to the rent, this should be clearly set out in the lease agreement with the tenant.

It’s understood this was agreed from an early stage between the landlord and tenants in the case in Galway, but that the couple later complained due to the amount they were being charged for the ‘service charge’ portion of their monthly outlay.

Speaking generally, a spokesperson for the RTB pointed to how the watchdog wants to guard against any additional charges being used to “circumvent” national rent control rules.

This means that while charges can be included in the rent, that sum, including the charges, “cannot increase by more than any allowed rent increase” under rent caps.

While Catu said it accepted that tenants can query and challenge service charges with the regulator, the group said legislation needed to be clear about their use.

“The simple fact is that they should not exist in the first place,” the group said.