Residential Tenancies Board outlines major rental law changes taking effect from 1st March - Bord um Tionóntachtaí Cónaithe

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Residential Tenancies Board outlines major rental law changes taking effect from 1st March

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Wednesday, 25th February 2026: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) today held a media briefing outlining significant changes to rental legislation that will come into effect from 1st March 2026.  

 During the briefing, the RTB outlined the main ways the rental law changes will impact tenants and landlords, including:  

  • Stronger protections for tenants with rolling 6-year minimum tenancies. 
  • New rules that restrict how and when a landlord can end a tenancy.  
  • A new national system of rent control where annual rent increases are limited to 2% or inflation for most tenancies. 
  • A new provision that landlords can re-set to market rent in limited circumstances.

RTB representatives emphasised that the changes to Ireland’s rental laws will apply only to new tenancy agreements entered into from 1st March 2026. Existing tenancies will not be affected, and the new legislation does not alter the terms of current agreements, the RTB confirmed.  

New Rent Setting Requirements 

From 1st March 2026, landlords must now provide a rent setting or rent review notice to both the RTB and their tenant to explain how they determined the new rent level. Landlords will be required to provide three examples of rents paid for comparable properties drawn from a new online tool, the RTB Rent Register.  

 The RTB demonstrated the new RTB Rent Register that will go live on 1st March. The Rent Register draws on RTB tenancy registration data and is updated on a daily basis from the RTB’s tenancy registration system. It allows landlords to search for rents paid for similar tenancies in the same Local Electoral Area as the tenancy they are setting rent for. They can enter details such as the dwelling type, floor area, number of bedrooms and BER rating, and the RTB Rent Register will return the results that most closely match their tenancy. 

 Addressing today’s briefing, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board Rosemary Steen said:  

“The new rental law changes coming into effect on 1st March mark a significant step forward in strengthening tenant protections and providing regulatory certainty for landlords. New minimum 6-year tenancies will provide greater stability for renters while new rent setting rules will bring increased transparency to how rent levels are set. The new RTB Rent Register will support transparency by providing landlords and tenants with up-to-date information on rents paid for similar properties from the national register of tenancies.” 

 Public Information Campaign 

The RTB also launched a public information campaign today (25.02.26) to support tenants and landlords to understand the new rental law changes. Dedicated resources are now available on the RTB.ie website for tenants and landlords explaining the new rules. A national advertising campaign across traditional, digital and social media platforms begins today. The RTB will continue to engage with property professionals and landlord representative groups about the rental law changes through meetings and webinars in the coming weeks. The RTB is calling on landlords to register for a series of educational webinars over the next three weeks that will support landlords to comply with the new rental laws. 

 For more information, visit the RTB’s information page on rental law changes from 1 March 2026.