Rent reforms are the sticking plaster on a crisis – only radical change will work

Although the exact details remain to be seen, the proposals contain much- needed reforms that offer something to landlords and tenants. The problem is that while offering something to both, these proposals also take something. Moreover, these reforms leave significant issues unaddressed.

Arguably, the two most welcome reforms are the extension of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) nationwide and the further differentiation of landlords based on size. Both reforms are overdue, but will add more complexity to the regulatory regime.

RPZs were initially introduced in 2016 in selected locations and were supposed to last for only three years. Since then, RPZs have gradually expanded across the country and been extended beyond their original term.

The new proposals will allow landlords with tenancies beginning after March 1, 2026 to reset the rent to market rent every six years. In addition, allowable annual rent increases for most tenancies – outside times of high inflation – will be the general rate of inflation. The exception is for tenancies in new developments where rent increases will always be at the rate of general inflation.

Alongside nationwide rent control, the Government will reform security of tenure and, in so doing, recognises that not all landlords are the same. Granted, Ireland’s Residential Tenancies Act has, since 2016’s Tyrrelstown amendment, recognised that larger landlords should not have access to no-fault eviction to facilitate the mass sale of their properties.

The proposed reforms will define larger landlords as those with four or more properties, and they will be unable to carry out no-fault evictions, except in limited circumstances.

Even for smaller landlords – those with three or fewer properties – the option of no-fault evictions will be limited. Every six-years, smaller landlords will be able to terminate tenancies because of sale, renovation, change of use or because a family member needs the property.

Outside of this, smaller landlords will be able to terminate tenancies due only to hardship or because an immediate family member needs the property.

In short, every tenant in Ireland’s private rented sector will have the benefit of some form of rent control and enhanced security of tenure. However, every six years some tenants will face eviction, and, it seems, all tenants will face sharp increases in rent to market levels every six years.

Meanwhile, landlords will have fewer grounds on which to recover possession, but will be able to increase rent to market rent every six years, provided the allowed annual increases have not already resulted in market rent.

It is likely that these new proposals will be constitutional, but they might potentially impinge on landlords’ property rights in two ways.

Landlords argue that their ability to charge market rent is a property right and, while that has not been constitutionally tested since the 1980s, permanent, nationwide rent control might prompt such a challenge.

Any such challenge would probably turn on whether being kept out of market rent for six years was acceptable. However, it may be that the new rules will contain exceptions that would forestall any constitutional challenge.

The second constitutional point is that the changes to security of tenure limit a landlord’s ability to repossess their property. Whether limiting repossession is constitutional is somewhat under-examined. Where limits on repossession have been examined, it was as part of a system of much stricter rent control.

Presumably, the exceptions to security of tenure will address the concerns around property rights.

As welcome as these proposals are, two things are missing.

First, the proposals are silent on how these new rules will be enforced. The implication is that it will fall to the Residential Tenancies Board. If so, the board will need more funding and more staff.

The second thing missing from these proposals is a new answer to Ireland’s housing crisis. These proposals continue to insist the answer to Ireland’s housing crisis lies with the private sector. The problem with relying on the private sector is that it needs to make a profit. As many landlords will tell you, making a profit is a challenge because rents are divorced from the landlord’s costs.

Yet rents are also divorced from tenants’ income, which means they are currently unaffordable for both parties. Or, more bluntly, the rental system is broken. These reforms may patch a few holes, but they paper over the need for more substantial reform.

This article was first published in The Irish Independent on Thursday, June 26th, 2025. Read the original article here on The Irish Independent website.