Student Specific Accommodation

Student Specific Accommodation

Student Specific Accommodation is housing built or designated for students and used for the sole purpose of providing residential accommodation to students during the academic term.

A student is defined under the Residential Tenancies Act as a person registered as a student with a relevant provider (within the meaning of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012).

The Residential Tenancies Act (Amendment) 2019 brought Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) on 15 July 2019. This legislation clarifies that SSA is clearly within the jurisdiction of the RTB, regardless of whether there is a lease or license agreement in place, meaning all SSA tenancies/licences entered on or after 15 August 2019 must now be registered with the RTB. 

This means that: 

• Higher Educational Institutions, such as universities or colleges, who provide SSA to students during the academic year and purpose-built SSA provided by the private sector are under the remit of the RTB. 
• All student tenancies/licences entered into on or after 15 August 2019 must be registered with the RTB. 

The Registration Process 

All providers of SSA are required to register their tenancies with the RTB. The registration requirements are different for SSA compared to those in the private rented sector. SSA requirements state that each room in a unit must be registered. If a room is being rented, each room is considered as a tenancy/license. In other words, each individual room is considered a separate tenancy / license. 

Since 04 April 2022, a landlord is obliged to register each tenancy / licence within 1 month of its commencement date and every year after this, on the anniversary of the date the tenancy began, for so long as the tenancy /  licence exists.

SSA providers must register each tenancy with the RTB. In a scenario where a tenant moves into Room 1 on 3 September and vacates on 3 April and a new tenant moves into Room 1 on 1 May, a new registration is then required. In this scenario no fee is applicable as it is a second registration within a 12-month period, provided it is received by the RTB within one month of the tenancy commencement date of the new tenancy.

For more information on Annual Registration click here. 

How to Register a Student Specific Accommodation Tenancy 

The RTB Registration Online Portal is currently not available to SSA providers.  

To register SSA tenancies, a Tenancy Data Sheet (TDS) must be completed.  

Please read the documents titled “Guide to completing TDS Private Providers” and “Composite Guidance Note” before completing the TDS. All can be found in the download section below. 

If you are an SSA provider who has previously registered with the RTB, a TDS will be issued to you with some detail prepopulated to assist with the registration process. 

Once a completed TDS has been received, the RTB will review the information, ensure it is accurate and will then calculate the fees owed.

An invoice will be issued and SSA providers have 30 days in which to pay, or late fees will apply. 

It is critical that SSA providers keep their point of contact up to date with the RTB as correspondence is emailed and if missed late fees could accrue.  

Registration Fees

The registration fee structure for Student Specific Accommodation is: 

Standard fee of €40 applies when TDS applications are received within one month of the tenancy commencement date. 

Composite fee of €170 applies when between 5 and a max of 10 tenancies in one building are being registered at the same time, by the same landlord and within 1 month of the earliest Tenancy Commencement Date of that group of tenancies. 

For example, one accommodation block, with one main entry, has 26 student units. The total fee is 3 composites = 3 x €170 = €510 (total to be paid for registering the tenancies). 

Late fee of €10 applies in respect of each month or part of a month that the registration is late.There is no maximum late fee applied, as the late fee will continue to add up until it is paid.  

No fee will apply to the 2nd or subsequent registration in a 12-month period, in respect of the same dwelling, providing. the applications are made to the RTB within one month of the tenancy commencement date of the new tenancy   

Deposits and Seeking Rent in Advance  

The law has been changed to clarify that a provider of SSA cannot seek or require a person to pay: 

an advance rent payment that exceeds one month's rent 

a deposit greater than one month's rent in order to secure a tenancy 

In other words, landlords cannot seek or ask anyone to pay more than the equivalent of 2 months' rent in total to secure a tenancy. 

A student may, if he or she wishes, and with the agreement of his or her landlord/licensor, make an advance payment of rent exceeding an amount equivalent to one month's rent, only where the student is paying both rent and tuition fees to the same relevant provider (i.e. a public or private educational provider). 

Duration of Tenancy/Licence Agreement of Student Specific Accommodation 

Recent changes to the law confirm that a student cannot be sought/required to pay for SSA during the summer months when the accommodation is not required by the student. SSA tenancies/licences are limited to the academic year (a maximum of 41 weeks).  

A student can request to rent for a longer term, with the agreement of the SSA provider. 

A student tenant can submit a dispute resolution application to the RTB, where an SSA landlord/licensor requests or requires a student to enter into a SSA tenancy/licence that exceeds a duration of 41 weeks. Further information please see the Dispute Resolution Service webpage.

The RTB encourages landlords and tenants to follow the RTB sample notices of termination to ensure that the notice served is legally correct. Sample notices of termination can be found on Sample Notices of Termination webpage 

The RTB has significant powers to investigate breaches of rental laws by landlords (called improper conducts), which now includes the requesting or requiring by a SSA landlord or licensor of a student to sign a lease or licence in excess of 41 weeks (unless a longer term is agreed at the request of the student). 

Student Specific Accommodation Register  

The Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) Register is a list of all SSA tenancies registered with the RTB at a point in time.  

You can download the register here. 

Setting and reviewing rent in Student Specific Accommodation 

All SSA providers must comply with the law governing rent reviews. There are specific processes for rent reviews and rent setting. These can be viewed here for areas inside a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ), and here for areas outside a Rent Pressure Zone. 

Where a tenancy is situated outside an RPZ, a landlord cannot set the rent above market rent. Landlords must show three comparable properties which have been advertised for rent in the previous 4 weeks of them serving the Notice of Rent Review to show that the rent being sought is the current market rate. 

Where a tenancy is situated in an RPZ, rents cannot exceed general inflation, as recorded by Harmonised Index of the Consumer Price (HICP), or 2% per year pro rata, where HICP inflation is higher.  The 2% / HICP rule applies to all rent reviews in Rent Pressure Zones. More information on RPZs can be found on Guide to Rent Pressure Zones webpage.

Rent in a RPZ can only be reviewed once every 12 months. This means that at least 12 months must have passed since the tenancy commencement date or since the date of service of the last valid Notice of Rent Review.  

A landlord must use the prescribed Notice of Rent Review form to notify tenants of a rent increase. If this form is not used the review may be subject to legal challenge. 

The RTB provides a RPZ Calculator to calculate the maximum rent increase permitted, if any, for a dwelling.   

If the property is in an RPZ, a landlord must inform the tenant in writing, at the start of the tenancy, of the amount of rent set under the previous tenancy, the date it was set and how the current rent was calculated. 

What are the notice periods to end a student tenancy? 

Providers of SSA (landlords or licensors), as well as students (tenants or licensees) have rights and responsibilities under the law. This includes obligations in relation to ending or terminating the tenancy or licence for their accommodation. The party who wishes to terminate must serve a valid notice of termination and give the minimum statutory notice period. 

The law has been amended to allow a student with a fixed term SSA tenancy /licence to serve a 28-day notice of termination (NoT) at any time during the period from 1 May to 1 October each year, whether or not the landlord /licensor has failed to comply with any obligations of the tenancy/licence.  

Example:  a student who does not require accommodation during the summer months could serve a 28-day NoT in respect of their fixed term SSA tenancy /licence on 1 May. 

Students may give a longer period of notice if they wish, but there is no requirement in law to do so. 

Outside of the dates 1 May to 1 October, the existing rules apply in relation to termination of a fixed term tenancy. There are only three situations in which a fixed-term tenancy may be terminated. They are as follows: 

1. there has been a breach of obligation by either the landlord or the tenant; 

2. where a landlord refuses his or her consent to an assignment or subletting of the tenancy by the tenant (a tenant or licensee of student accommodation are not entitled to assign or sub-let- any assignment or sub-tenancy will be void); 

3. where the lease or tenancy agreement provides for specific grounds for the termination of the fixed-term tenancy and those grounds do not contravene Part 4 of the RTA 2004.The parties to a fixed-term tenancy may agree on additional grounds for termination of the tenancy during the fixed term. However, the parties cannot contract out of the provisions of the RTA 2004 and the agreed grounds for termination must be consistent with the provisions of the RTA 2004. Where a party terminates a tenancy on foot of a term in a fixed-term tenancy, the procedure for termination under the RTA 2004 must also be followed, as well as the required period of notice given. 

Notice Periods for SSA Landlords 

Since 6 July 2022, the notice periods an SSA provider must provide a tenant when ending a tenancy have increased. They are as follows:  

Duration of a Tenancy - SSA Provider Notice Period  

• Less than 6 months - 90 days   

• Not less than 6 months, but less than one year - 152 days    

• Not less than three years, but less than seven years - 180 days    

• Not less than seven years, but less than eight years - 196 days  

• Not less than eight years - 224 days 

Shorter notice periods may apply if the landlord or tenant has breached his/her obligations. Warning notices must first be served where there is a breach of obligation, except in serious cases of antisocial behaviour or where there is a serious risk to a person or the property.   

The RTB encourages landlords and tenants to follow the RTB sample notices of termination to ensure that the notice served is legally correct. Sample notices of termination can be found on Sample Notices of Termination webpage