RTB Opening Statement to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage - Residential Tenancies Board

RTB Opening Statement to Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage

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Thank you, Chairperson and Members, for the invitation to attend this afternoon. I am Owen Keegan, and I am the Chairperson of the Residential Tenancies Board. I am accompanied by my colleagues Rosemary Steen, Director of the RTB, Louise Loughlin, Deputy Director and Brian Gallwey, Senior Research and Policy Manager with the RTB. We will be happy to answer Members’ questions, but first I would like to read a short opening statement and respond to the issue raised in your letter of invitation. 

RTB role and remit 

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is an independent public body that regulates Ireland’s rental sector. We regulate all private, Approved Housing Body, cost rental and student specific accommodation tenancies in Ireland.  

 We work to deliver a fair rental system for everyone in Ireland. In our role:   

  • We inform tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities. 
  • We ensure landlords register tenancies and follow rental law. 
  • We help to resolve tenancy disputes. 
  • We provide trusted data and insights to inform rental sector policy. 

Issues facing the rental sector 

A healthy rental sector is a vital part of a well-functioning housing market. A strong RTB is central to delivering this for Irish society. Today, people are living for longer in rented accommodation, and the private rental sector increasingly accommodates vulnerable tenants. This makes our work to deliver a fair and effective rental sector more important than ever. 

Today, I will divide my comments on the issues facing the rental sector into two categories. Firstly, market issues and secondly, regulatory and resourcing issues. I will outline how both market-driven issues and upcoming changes to rental law have serious implications for RTB resourcing and regulation of Ireland’s rental sector.  

Trends in Ireland’s rental market 

As the custodian of Ireland’s national register of tenancies, we are uniquely positioned to provide data and insights on rental sector trends. 

Registered tenancies and landlords 

Our Profile of the Register data series for Q1 2025 showed that registered private tenancies rose by 4.6% annually to 240,604. Registered landlord numbers also grew by 1.4% annually to 104,470 in Q1 2025. 

Registered private tenancy growth from Q2 2023 was primarily driven by new tenancies provided by large landlords. In Q2 2023, 9.5% of tenancies nationally were provided by landlords with 100+ tenancies. By Q1 2025, this had risen to 13.56%.  

Our data also points to some success stories. For example, the continued strong growth in Approved Housing Body tenancies, which grew by 11% annually to 51,230 in Q1 2025. 

Rent levels and Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) compliance 

The ESRI Individual Property Level Analysis study commissioned by the RTB in 2024 confirmed a high level of compliance with RPZ rules. It also helped the RTB to identify potentially non-compliant landlords for a large RPZ campaign in 2024. 

However, the ongoing pressures in Ireland’s housing market remain evident in the RTB / ESRI Quarterly Rent Index. Data for Q4 2024 showed the standardised average rent for new tenancies nationally rose by 5.5% year-on-year to €1,680. It rose by 4.6% year-on-year for existing tenancies to €1,440.  

While the rates of rental inflation had moderated from earlier in 2024, we flagged counties where rental inflation for new tenancies remained persistently high. We highlighted Galway in particular and took action through a rental law compliance forum in June. However, with all of Ireland now coming under RPZ rules, we need more resources to target other areas of concern. 

Regulatory issues and resourcing 

The RTB is currently operating under significant pressure. Developments in the rental sector and its regulation have greatly increased the RTB’s workload in recent years. There is an urgent need for enhanced investment in the RTB’s IT infrastructure and for additional staff.  

The recently announced changes to rental law will generate significant additional demands on the RTB, which we need to be in a position to respond to. We are currently engaged in positive discussions with the Department on the need for additional resourcing to prepare for these changes. We have submitted a detailed business case seeking approximately €5 million of additional funding in 2025 to address digital infrastructure deficits.  

We are also finalising our assessment of the funding required for 2026 as part of the annual estimates process. The precise scale will depend on the details of the draft legislation, but our initial assessment is that the need will be substantial. 

Some of the critical resourcing and regulatory issues that we have highlighted include: 

  • The need to develop a new tenancy registration system to track additional information needed at point of registration under proposed changes. For example, landlord size, previous rental market history and details of the last Notice of Termination served.  
  • The need for a new team within the RTB to verify and monitor Notices of Termination due to new rules on no-fault evictions and re-setting to market rent. 
  • The need for increased resourcing of our Compliance and Enforcement team. We currently have eight investigators to enforce rental law across the entire country, across all breaches of rental law including RPZ breaches. 
  • The need for a faster mechanism to investigate and sanction RPZ breaches. Investigations, as currently legislated for, are a long and complex process that take up to 12 months to conclude. 
  • The need for additional resourcing to address an anticipated increase in dispute levels due to the new rules. In 2024, the RTB brought dispute resolution times back to within agreed KPIs. We also successfully deployed our new online Dispute Resolution Centre last week. This progress could be eroded without additional resourcing. 

I would like to conclude by noting our positive engagement to date with the Department on the resourcing and legislative requirements to enforce the planned changes to rental law.  

I would also like to thank the RTB’s Director Rosemary Steen, our Board and the wider RTB team for the positive developments they have driven at the RTB since we last appeared at this Committee. In particular, the launch of our online Dispute Resolution Centre and a new RTB website mark an important new chapter in our ability to deliver IT solutions to improve RTB customer experience. Their fast and cost-effective delivery is a testament to the new structures and skills we have in place to deliver critical digital projects. 

Finally, I would also like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to discuss this issue here today. We look forward to addressing any questions that Committee members may have.