Residential tenancy agreement Ireland: what the letting must contain

A residential tenancy agreement in Ireland is a letting of a dwelling to which the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 applies. The written agreement fixes the rent, the term and the house rules — but it cannot cut down the tenant's statutory rights. Any provision purporting to exclude or limit a right conferred by the Act is of no effect, and where the agreement and the Act conflict, the Act prevails.

The Act as it now stands is consolidated to the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, commenced in full by S.I. No. 67 of 2026 — the bulk of Part 2 on 28 February 2026 and the remainder on 1 March 2026. Almost everything that makes an Irish letting different from an English one turns on whether the tenancy was created before or after that date.

What the agreement must record

• The parties and the dwelling. Landlord's name and an address for service — section 12(1)(f) requires you to give the tenant the means of contacting you or your agent at all reasonable times — every tenant's full name, and the address of the dwelling with its Eircode.
• The term. Periodic or fixed. Either way, Part 4 arrives at six months.
• The rent, and when it falls due. The tenant's obligation to pay on the due date arises under section 16(a)(i).
• The deposit, within the cap below.
• The section 12(1)(i) rent-setting statement, including three comparables.
• Joint and several liability where there is more than one tenant, or you cannot pursue one of them for the whole rent.
• A BER certificate number, a rent book under the Housing (Rent Books) Regulations 1993, and compliance with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019, which section 12(1)(b)(i) imports as a landlord obligation.
• Structural insurance indemnifying you to at least €250,000 against liability arising out of ownership, possession and use of the dwelling — section 12(1)(c), subject to the section 12(3) exception where cover is unobtainable or obtainable only at unreasonable cost.

Part 4: six months, and the tenancy becomes indefinite

Where the tenant has been in occupation for a continuous period of six months, and no valid notice of termination was served before that period expired, the tenancy continues for a period of unlimited duration under section 28(1). That is a Part 4 tenancy. From then on the landlord may terminate only on one of the grounds in the Table to section 34, by a notice complying with sections 34, 35 and 62.

A tenancy created on or after 1 March 2026 is a relevant Part 4 tenancy within section 35B. A tenancy of minimum duration is six years from commencement and from each sixth anniversary. Section 35B(2) bars a company, or any landlord under more than three tenancies, from ever terminating on the sale, family-occupation, refurbishment or change-of-use grounds — paragraphs 3 to 6 of the Table to section 34. Smaller landlords keep those grounds only within the limits in section 35B(3) to (5).

The deposit and advance-rent caps

Section 19B(1)(b) caps the deposit at one month's rent. Section 19B(1)(a) prohibits seeking more than one month's rent in advance to secure the tenancy, and section 19B(2) stops the agreement providing for more than one month's advance rent during it. The single exception, in section 19B(3) and (3A), is student-specific accommodation within section 3(1A) where the tenant pays both tuition fees and rent to the same provider — and that exception reaches advance rent only, never the deposit.

The section 12(1)(i) statement, with three comparables

For tenancies created on or after 1 March 2026, section 12(1)(i) obliges the landlord to furnish the tenant and the Board, in writing at the commencement of the tenancy, with the rent last set under the most recent previous tenancy, its section 135(3) registration number, how the new rent was calculated having regard to section 19 — and, under section 12(1)(i)(v), three comparable dwellings taken from the published register kept under section 128: similar in floor area, number of bedrooms, type, character and BER, in a comparable area, each with its rent and RTB number.

Rent setting itself is restricted by section 19(4): the new rent may exceed the old by neither 2 per cent for each year since the last setting, pro-rated, nor the CPI ratio. Since 1 March 2026 that applies to every dwelling in the State, not only rent pressure zones. Where no tenancy subsisted in the preceding two years, section 19(5)(a)(ii) releases the first rent set from the restriction.

Ending it: section 66, and the copy to the Board

Notice periods are fixed by the Table to section 66. Landlord's notice: 90 days under six months, 152 days from six months to a year, 180 days from one to seven years, 196 days to eight years, 224 days beyond. Tenant's notice: 28, 35, 42, 56, 84 and 112 days on the same ladder. Rent arrears require a written warning notice under section 67 first.

Section 62(1A) requires the landlord to serve a copy of the notice on the RTB on the same day it is served on the tenant. A notice not copied to the Board is invalid — the commonest way a termination fails.

Draft yours

Our template produces an agreement for a dwelling in the Republic, drafted against the Act as amended in 2026: Part 4 and section 35B, the section 19B caps, the section 12(1)(i) schedule with the comparables, section 12 and 16 obligations and the section 66 table — with checks that reject a deposit over one month's rent, advance rent over a month, and a rent that breaches section 19(4).

→ Residential Tenancy Agreement

Registration is a separate duty with its own deadline: see RTB registration. If you live in the dwelling yourself, the Act does not apply at all — see renting a room in your own home.