Important changes to rental law from 14 September 2026 - Residential Tenancies Board

Important changes to rental law from 14 September 2026

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31 August 2026: Important changes to rental law will come into effect on 14 September 2026 under the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) encourages landlords and tenants to be aware of the changes which include: 

  • New RTB powers to issue fixed payment notices for six breaches of rental law. 
  • 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.

Speaking on the changes, Rosemary Steen, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board said:  

“These changes strengthen the RTB’s ability to support compliance with rental law, 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. We encourage landlords and tenants to be aware of the new requirements and to visit rtb.ie for more information.” 

 New fixed payment notice powers 

The RTB will now be able to issue a fixed payment notice for six breaches of rental law. Fixed payment notices are a new tool the RTB can use to enforce rental law more quickly for breaches that include: 

  1.   Failure 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    

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.  

 Public adjudication hearings 

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

  • The RTB will publish a weekly schedule of adjudication hearings on its website. 
  • Members of the public can request to attend an adjudication hearing. 
  • The RTB will publish the full adjudication report on the RTB website. This document includes the names of the dispute parties, the rental property address, details of all evidence presented and the dispute outcome.  
  • The media may report on the published dispute details.

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.  

New rules on how to serve a notice of termination and a notice of rent review 

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: 

  • Rent setting and rent review notices: Can be served to a tenant by email, post or hand-delivered to their address.  
  • Termination notices should not be sent to a tenant by post: A tenant must still receive a notice of termination on the date of service listed in the notice. The RTB recommends that landlords email the notice to their tenant to ensure they receive it on the correct date. If a landlord cannot send a notice by email, they can hand-deliver it to the tenant or leave it at the tenant’s address.  

Changes to dispute appeal and hearing notice times  

The changes to rental law introduce measures to standardise RTB dispute appeal times and to reduce dispute processing times. 

From 14 September 2026, the RTB can give 10 working days’ notice for a tribunal hearing to dispute case parties. Previously, the RTB gave 21 calendar days’ notice. This change will support faster case processing. 

From 14 September 2026, dispute case parties will have 10 working days to appeal a mediation case to a tribunal hearing. Previously, a tenant had 10 calendar days to appeal a mediation case. This change brings the mediation appeal period in line with the adjudication appeal period of 10 working days. 

Webinars on rental law changes 

The RTB is running a series of webinars to introduce landlords and stakeholders to the changes to rental law. Click on the dates below to register for a webinar: