Fixed-term versus periodic tenancies

A fixed-term tenancy is one with an end date in the lease: six months, a year, sometimes longer. A periodic tenancy has no end date and runs from month to month or week to week until someone ends it with a notice. Both are tenancies under the Residential Tenancies Act, both earn Part 4 rights after six months, and both are ended by the landlord only on a ground with a valid notice. A lease clause that says you lose Part 4 rights has no effect.

What a fixed term changes is narrower than most leases make it sound. It binds both sides for the term, so leaving early has a cost unless you use one of the routes the Act gives you. It does not need to be renewed, and when it runs out the tenancy carries on as a Part 4 tenancy. The giving notice tool works out the period and the letter for whichever kind you have.

This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only. A licensee in the owner's own home has a contract, not a tenancy, and none of this applies; licensees and lodgers covers that position.

The two kinds side by side

Everything in the Act that protects you applies to both. The one-month cap on the deposit, the minimum standards and the landlord's duty to register and to repair are the same. So are the 2% or CPI rent cap and the 90 days to refer a notice to the RTB. The tenancy timeline shows the dates that matter from your start date, whichever kind you have.

What a fixed term does not change

It does not stop Part 4 rights arising. Six months into a twelve-month lease you have Part 4 rights, and they continue after the twelve months end. Which version of them you hold depends on when the tenancy began, not on the lease; Part 4 tenancies and the six-month rule explains the three regimes.

It does not change the landlord's grounds or the notice periods. A sale, family occupation or any other ground needs the same valid notice and the same period for your length of tenancy, from 90 days under six months to 224 days after eight years. The RTB's guidance is that a landlord cannot serve a notice to take effect inside the term unless you have breached your obligations, because the lease binds the landlord as much as you.

It does not let the landlord set the rent outside the cap. A review during or at the end of the term is still a review. It can happen once in any 12 months, with 90 days' notice in the prescribed form, and the rise is capped at 2% or the annual change in the CPI, whichever is lower. A new lease with a higher rent written into it is a review by another name and has to meet the same rules.

Leaving a fixed term early

This is where the fixed term bites. For the term you have agreed to pay the rent, and the Act's tenant notice periods do not on their own release you from that. Four routes do.

The first is agreement. Many landlords will release you if you give reasonable notice and help find a replacement. Get it in writing.

The second is a break clause. Some leases let either side end the tenancy at a set point, often after six months, on a set notice. Read the lease; the clause binds the landlord too.

The third is the landlord's breach. Where the landlord is in breach of their obligations and has been warned in writing without putting it right, you may serve 28 days' notice under section 68. That applies whatever the length of the tenancy and whatever the lease says. A home that does not meet the minimum standards, or a landlord who enters without arrangement, is in breach.

The fourth is section 186. Ask the landlord in writing for consent to assign or sublet the tenancy. If the landlord refuses, you may serve a notice of termination despite the fixed term, with the ordinary tenant period for your length of tenancy. The refusal does not have to be unreasonable; a refusal is enough. Subletting, assignment and changing the names on a share covers the request.

Without one of those routes, the landlord may claim the rent for the rest of the term, or until the home is re-let if that is sooner, and may deduct it from the deposit. The landlord is expected to re-let within a reasonable time rather than leave the home empty and charge you. The RTB decides what is reasonable in a dispute. Breaking a fixed-term lease goes through the cost and how to keep it down.

When the fixed term ends

The tenancy does not end with the term. If you stay, it continues as a Part 4 tenancy on the same terms with no end date, and nothing needs to be signed. The landlord cannot use the end of the term as a ground for ending the tenancy. A valid notice on one of the Act's grounds is still needed, with the full period for your length of tenancy.

The Act asks you to tell the landlord in writing, between three months and one month before the term ends, that you intend to stay. Do it even if the landlord has said nothing. It costs a short email, it removes any argument later, and the letter builder has a confirm-in-writing request you can adapt.

A landlord may offer a new fixed-term lease. You do not have to sign one to stay, and refusing is not a ground for ending the tenancy. If you do sign, the tenancy continues rather than starting again. The six-month clock does not restart, your length of tenancy for notice purposes still runs from the day you first moved in, and the regime fixed by that date does not change. Read the new lease for a rent figure above the cap or a term you did not agree to before.

Giving and receiving notice under each

In a periodic tenancy you may serve your own notice at any time. The period depends on how long you have been there. It is 28 days under six months, 35 days up to a year, 42 days up to two years and 56 days up to four. After that it is 84 days up to eight years and 112 days beyond. The notice must be in writing, signed and dated, and state the termination date. Giving notice to your landlord has the letter and the giving notice tool works out the date.

In a fixed-term tenancy the same periods apply once the term has ended, and during the term they apply through the routes above. Serving a notice during the term without one of those routes does not end your liability for the rent, so take advice from Threshold on 1800 454 454 before you send it.

Receiving a notice is the same under both. Check it against section 62 with the notice checker, keep paying rent, do not move out, and refer it to the RTB within 90 days of service if anything is wrong.

Where this leaves you

A fixed term is a contract for a set period on top of a tenancy the Act protects; it is not a different kind of tenancy. Part 4 rights, the grounds, the notice periods and the rent cap are the same for both. The term matters if you want to leave before it ends, and the Act gives you four routes: agreement, a break clause, the landlord's breach, and a refused request to assign or sublet. When the term runs out the tenancy continues without a new lease, and the landlord still needs a ground to end it. Use the giving notice tool for the period and the letter, and ring Threshold on 1800 454 454 before leaving a term early.