Has your county been affected?
19 new locations have been designated as Rent Pressure Zones following a change in the criteria.
The changes will be implemented from today (2 July) after reforms were made to the Residential Tenancies Act.
The new criteria means that areas can be compared to more regionally appropriate standardised average rents.
The new legislation has also extended all existing Rent Pressure Zones to 31 December 2021 and it has also provided the Residential Tenancies Board with the power to directly investigate and sanction, where appropriate, specific breaches of Residential Tenancy Law.
With regards to the 19 new Rent Pressure Zones that were created, the areas are located across 11 counties – Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow.
Essentially, it now means that rent increases in the following areas are limited to a maximum of 4% each year. This applies to new and existing tenancies (unless an exemption is being applied).
Rent Pressure Zones have been created in the following places:
- Fermoy LEA, Cork
- Midleton LEA, Cork
- Athenry-Oranmore LEA, Galway
- Gort-Kinvara LEA, Galway
- Kilkenny LEA, Kilkenny
- Portlaoise LEA, Laois
- Graiguecullen-Portarlington LEA, Laois
- Limerick City West LEA, Limerick
- Limerick City North LEA, Limerick
- Dundalk-Carlingford LEA, Louth
- Dundalk South LEA, Louth
- Ardee LEA, Louth
- Kells LEA, Meath
- Trim LEA, Meath
- Waterford City South LEA, Waterford
- Waterford City East LEA, Waterford
- Athlone LEA, Westmeath
- Gorey LEA, Wexford
- Arklow LEA, Wicklow
Rent Pressure Zones are located in parts of the country where rents are highest and rising, and where households have the greatest difficulty finding affordable accommodation.
They are intended to moderate the rise in rents in these areas and create a stable and sustainable rental market that allows landlord and tenants to plan financially for their future.
In order for an area to be designated a Rent Pressure Zone, the following criterion must be met.
1) The average rent in the previous quarter must be above the average national rent in the quarter.
2) The annual rate of rent inflation in the area must have been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters.
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