New rental rules come into effect next week – Everything you need to know

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) will now be able to issue a fine for six breaches of rental law. Fines are a new tool the RTB can use to enforce rental law more quickly for breaches that include: 

1.  Failure of a landlord to register a tenancy 
2. Failure to update tenancy details 
3. Failure to give rent setting information at start of tenancy  
4. Setting rent above the legal limit  
5. Failure to notify the RTB of a rent exemption  
6. Failure to provide a rent review notice correctly    

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) encourages landlords and tenants to be aware of all the changes which also include: 

• New RTB powers to issue fines when a landlord breaches rental law six times.
• All RTB adjudication hearings will now be public with full reports published on the RTB website.
• New rules on how to serve a notice of termination and a notice of rent review.
• Changes to appeal and hearing notice times for some RTB dispute cases.

Rosemary Steen, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board said the changes strengthen the RTB’s ability to support compliance with rental law to "improve transparency and deliver a more effective service for landlords and tenants".

"The new fixed payment notice system will help the RTB address certain breaches more quickly, while changes to dispute resolution processes will support faster outcomes," she added.

If a landlord receives a fixed payment notice, they could face a fine of €200 for a rent breach and €100 for all other breaches. Fixed payment notices are additional to existing RTB prosecution and investigation powers.  

All RTB adjudication hearings must now be held in public. This means that from 14 September 2026: 

This applies only to dispute applications made from 14 September 2026. If a case party has applied for dispute resolution before 14 September 2026, their adjudication hearing will not be held in public. 

The change brings the rules on RTB adjudication hearings in line with RTB tribunal hearings which are already public. RTB mediation cases will continue to be private. The outcomes of RTB mediation cases are not published on the RTB website. 

In very limited and exceptional cases, the RTB may agree to hold an adjudication or tribunal hearing in private.  

From 14 September 2026, landlords must serve a copy of a notice of termination or notice of rent review to the RTB within 7 days of when they serve it to their tenant. Previously, a landlord had to serve the notice to the tenant and the RTB on the same day. The date of service is the date the tenant receives the notice. 

Landlords should continue to use the online RTB Service Centre to submit all notices of rent setting, rent review and termination to the RTB.  

There are now different rules on serving the notice to a tenant: