How to make an RTB dispute application

A dispute application is how you ask the Residential Tenancies Board to decide a disagreement with your landlord under the Residential Tenancies Act. You make it online on rtb.ie, and only there. Mediation is free. Adjudication costs €30. You do not need a solicitor, and the process is built for people who represent themselves.

The clock matters more than the form. A dispute about a notice of termination must reach the RTB within 90 days of the date of service, or 28 days where the notice cites a breach of your obligations. A rent review must be challenged in the 28 days before the new rent would start. Most other matters, including a deposit, carry a general time limit of six years. The notice checker gives you the last day for a notice.

This guide explains who can apply, what to decide before you do, what the online form asks for, what to upload, and what happens after you press submit. Nothing is filed on this site. The RTB's own page, the dispute resolution process, is where the application lives.

Who can apply, and about what

A tenant, a landlord, or a third party affected by anti-social behaviour in a dwelling can apply. The tenancy must be one the Act covers: a private tenancy, an Approved Housing Body tenancy, cost rental or student-specific accommodation. A licensee living in the landlord's own home cannot use the RTB; licensees and lodgers explains the difference.

The disputes tenants bring most often are a deposit that was not returned and a notice of termination that may be invalid. Next come a landlord who has not kept to their obligations (repairs, entry, peaceful occupation), rent set above the cap, and damages for a lock-out or a cut-off. The RTB's 2024 figures put rent arrears and overholding at 27% of applications, deposit retention at 19%, breach of landlord obligations at 18% and the validity of a notice at 17%. Tenants made 55% of applications that year.

You can raise more than one issue in one application. A tenant disputing a notice, for example, often adds a claim about a repair the landlord ignored. Say what you want the RTB to order: a sum of money, a declaration that a notice does not end the tenancy, or an instruction to the landlord to do something.

Before you apply

Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, before anything else. The advisers are free, independent, and know the RTB process well. They will tell you whether your issue is a dispute, an improper-conduct report, or both, and what the RTB can order in your case.

Write to the landlord first. The RTB expects the parties to have tried to resolve the matter themselves, and an unanswered letter is strong evidence that you did. The letter builder has a repair request, a deposit request and a reply to a rent review. Give a date for a response and keep a copy.

Keep paying rent. A dispute does not pause your obligations, and arrears would hand the landlord a ground they did not have. Do not move out because of a notice you intend to dispute; an invalid notice does not end the tenancy, and only the RTB can say whether yours is one.

Check the time limit before you spend an evening on the form. For a notice, count from the date of service, which for a posted notice is the day it arrived. If the window has closed, apply anyway and explain the delay; the RTB can accept a late application for a notice dispute where there is a good reason, but it is not obliged to.

Mediation or adjudication

The form asks you to choose. Mediation is free and private. A mediator, usually by telephone, helps the two of you reach an agreement, and nothing is published. If you agree, the agreement becomes a binding determination order after a short cooling-off period. If you do not agree, or the landlord refuses mediation, the case goes to adjudication.

Adjudication costs €30. An adjudicator hears both sides, reads the evidence, and issues a report with a decision that binds both parties unless one appeals within 10 working days. For applications made from 14 September 2026 the hearing is public, it appears on the RTB's weekly hearing list, and the published report names both parties and the address.

Which to choose depends on what you want and who you are. Mediation, adjudication or tribunal sets out the trade-offs, including the position of a tenant who needs the matter kept private. Public RTB hearings since 14 September 2026 covers the publication rule in detail.

The online form on rtb.ie

The application is made through the RTB's online dispute service. You create an account with the RTB, sign in, and start a new application. If you searched for the RTB login or the RTB portal, it is on rtb.ie and nowhere else; this site has no account and files nothing.

The form asks for the address of the dwelling, your details and the landlord's, and the RTB registration number if you have it. A tenancy that the landlord never registered does not stop a tenant applying; the RTB can proceed, and the landlord's failure to register is their breach, not yours. You can find out whether the tenancy is registered on the public register, and RTB registration for tenants explains how.

You then pick the type of dispute, or more than one, and describe what happened in your own words. Write it as a short, dated account: what the agreement was, what the landlord did or did not do, when you wrote to them, and what you are asking for. Give figures where there are figures, such as the deposit paid and the rent per month. Keep opinions out; the facts and the dates do the work.

You upload your documents at the same stage, choose mediation or adjudication, and pay the €30 fee if you chose adjudication. The RTB emails a confirmation with a case reference. Put the reference and the date in your tenancy file so the later deadlines sit beside it.

What to upload

Upload the documents you would want the adjudicator to read, and nothing you would not. The usual bundle for a tenant starts with the tenancy agreement, the notice of termination if there is one, and the rent book or bank statements showing the rent paid. Add the deposit receipt or the bank transfer, and every letter, email and message between you and the landlord in date order. Finish with photographs with their dates, and receipts for any loss you are claiming.

The evidence rules are simple and strict. The adjudicator or tribunal decides on what is in front of them. Anything you rely on must be sent to the RTB in advance, and the RTB copies it to the other party, who can respond. Material that turns up on the day may not be admitted. Name each file by date and content, so "2026-04-03 email to landlord re boiler" rather than "IMG_4471". RTB evidence: what to bring sets out the order and what the adjudicator looks for.

Do not upload a recording the other person did not know was being made, a medical record that is not about a loss you are claiming, or anything about the landlord's personal life. It will not help and it may be held against you.

What happens after you apply

The RTB checks that the application is complete, in time and paid for, and may come back to you for a missing document. It then writes to the landlord, who can respond and send their own evidence. If you chose mediation and the landlord agrees to it, a mediator contacts you both and arranges a session, usually by telephone. If either side declines, or mediation does not produce an agreement, the case is listed for adjudication.

For adjudication you receive a hearing date and a notice setting out how the hearing will run, whether in person, by video or by telephone. Since 14 September 2026 the case also appears on the RTB's weekly hearing list. The hearing is informal. The adjudicator asks each side to set out their case, asks questions, and may ask to see a document. Most hearings last an hour or two.

The adjudicator's report follows some weeks later. Either party has 10 working days from the report to appeal to a tribunal; appealing to a tribunal covers that step. If nobody appeals, the RTB issues a determination order, which is enforceable in the District Court. Determination orders and enforcement explains what to do if the landlord ignores it.

The RTB Annual Report 2024 gives average durations of about 7 weeks for mediation, about 17 weeks for adjudication and about 15 weeks for a tribunal. Those are averages, not promises, and a case with a hearing that has to be adjourned takes longer.

If the landlord applies against you

A landlord can apply too, most often for rent arrears, for overholding after a termination date, or for damage to the dwelling. You receive the application and the landlord's evidence from the RTB, and you have the same right to respond, to send your own evidence and to attend the hearing.

Do not ignore it. A hearing goes ahead without a party who does not appear, and the report is based on the evidence that was there. Ring Threshold, read the landlord's bundle against your own records, and send your response and your evidence by the date the RTB gives. If the application is about a notice of termination, run it through the notice checker first. If the landlord claims arrears, the arrears planner sets out the figures and the warning-notice rule.

Where this leaves you

A dispute application is made online on rtb.ie, for free at mediation or €30 at adjudication. The window is 90 days for a notice, 28 for a breach notice, 28 days before a rent review takes effect, or six years for most other matters. You write to the landlord first, keep paying rent, choose mediation or adjudication, upload a dated and ordered bundle, and attend the hearing. The RTB can order a payment, a declaration about a notice or an instruction to the landlord, and a determination order can be enforced in the District Court. Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454 before you start, keep your dates and documents in your tenancy file, and read the disputes hub for the rest of this chapter.