Practical guides, templates explained and legal news for Ireland.
A private seller gives no warranty of quality — section 14(1) of the Sale of Goods Act 1893 says so. But two conditions cannot be excluded by any wording: the right to sell, and freedom from a defect that would make the car a danger to the public.
·6 min read
A bill of sale is evidence of the contract. What changes the registered owner is Part B of the vehicle registration certificate, and it is the seller who has to send it. Until that happens the tolls and the fines are still yours.
·5 min read
Since 20 November 2024 an Irish employer may not enter into an agreement that would stop an employee disclosing discrimination, harassment or sexual harassment. Such an agreement is null and void, and the exception has seven conditions.
·5 min read
An Irish NDA is ordinary contract law with two statutory holes in it. Section 23 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 and section 14B of the Employment Equality Act 1998 override anything you write.
·5 min read
Revenue's rent-a-room relief exempts income from letting a room in your own home only where the gross income does not exceed €14,000 a year. Exceed it by one euro and the whole amount is taxable, not just the excess.
·4 min read
An Irish will must be signed at the foot or end in front of two witnesses who are present at the same time. Most homemade wills fail at the signing table, and a gift to a witness is void even where the will survives.
·6 min read
A surviving spouse or civil partner has a right to one half of the estate where there are no children and one third where there are. It takes priority over every gift in the will, and a will that leaves them out does not disinherit them — it just misdescribes what will happen.
·6 min read
Resigning because of your employer's conduct is a dismissal under section 1(b) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977. Two things decide most of these cases — whether you had a year's service, and whether you used the grievance procedure first.
·4 min read
The statutory notice an employee must give in Ireland is one week, flat, once you have thirteen weeks' service. It does not rise with service the way the employer's does — but a longer period in your contract still binds you.
·5 min read
Section 3(2)(g) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 puts a dwelling within which the landlord also resides outside the Act entirely. The lodger is a licensee — no Part 4, no RTB, no deposit cap, no statutory notice.
·4 min read
Since 16 December 2022 an Irish probationary period cannot exceed six months. Twelve is allowed for a public servant, and for anyone else only on an exceptional basis where the longer period is in the employee's own interest.
·4 min read
Section 134 requires a landlord to register a tenancy within one month of commencement and within one month of each anniversary. Miss it and section 83(2) shuts the Board's door on disputes you refer — while your tenant's referrals proceed normally.
·4 min read
An Irish contract of employment that contains the section 3 particulars discharges the statutory statement as well. Here is what belongs in it — notice, leave, breaks, the 48-hour average and the ten public holidays.
·6 min read
There is no free-standing right to a contract of employment in Ireland. There is a right to a written statement of terms — five days for eleven of them, one month for the rest — and a WRC award of up to four weeks' pay if you do not get it.
·4 min read
A residential tenancy agreement in Ireland is governed by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, and the Act prevails over anything in the agreement that contradicts it. Part 4, the deposit cap and the rent-setting statement are not negotiable.
·5 min read
Irish employers must give a written statement within five days of an employee starting. Since 16 December 2022 that statement carries eleven particulars, not five — the 2022 Regulations moved most of the one-month list into it.
·5 min read