Rented housing inspections: how to ask for one

Rented homes in Ireland are inspected against the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 by the local authority, not by the RTB. Every city and county council has a private rented inspection service. You can ask it to inspect your home at any time, the landlord cannot refuse it entry, and the inspector can order the landlord to do the work.

An inspection is the step between writing to the landlord and going to the RTB. It is free, it produces a written report, and the report is the strongest evidence you can bring to a dispute. The local authority comes before the RTB on every repair and standards problem, because it is the body with the power to inspect.

This guide covers how to ask, what the inspector does, the notices the council can serve, and the rule for homes let under HAP. The standards check drafts the request for your council in your words, and the county pages have the contact details.

Before you ask

Write to the landlord first. Name what is wrong, the standard it breaches, and the date by which you expect it fixed. The council will ask whether you did, and the RTB will later. The letter builder drafts the repair request.

Keep paying the rent in full throughout. A standards problem is never a reason to stop, and arrears would give the landlord a ground to end the tenancy and weaken your own case.

Take photographs with dates, and note each time you raised the problem and what was said. A short record in your tenancy file is enough.

How to ask for an inspection

Find your council's private rented inspection service on the county pages. Most take requests by email or an online form; some ask for a short paper form. Give the address, the landlord's name and contact details if you have them, and whether the tenancy is registered with the RTB. Then say what is wrong, room by room, and which of the eleven headings in the 2019 Regulations you think the home fails on. Minimum standards for rented housing lists them.

Say that you are the tenant, that you have asked the landlord in writing on the dates you give, and that nothing has been done. Attach the photographs and the letter. Ask for an inspection and say when you can give access.

Councils prioritise by risk. No heating in winter, a gas or electrical hazard, a fire-safety failure or a home with a child or an older person in it will usually be seen sooner. Say so if any of these apply.

What happens at the inspection

The inspector arranges a time with you and visits the home. The landlord may be told and may attend, but it is your home and your appointment. The inspector checks the home against each of the eleven headings, takes photographs and measurements, and asks you about the history. It takes an hour or so.

The council then writes to the landlord with the result. Where the home passes, you get a copy of the report and that is the end of it. Where it fails, the inspector lists each item and the landlord is asked to put it right by a date.

The notices the council can serve

Where the landlord does not do the work, the council can serve an improvement notice. It requires named works by a date. If the date passes, the council can serve a prohibition notice, which bars the landlord from letting the home, or re-letting it, until the works are done. Letting a home in breach of a prohibition notice is an offence and the council can prosecute.

Neither notice ends your tenancy. A prohibition notice bars a new letting; it does not require you to leave, and a landlord who serves a notice of termination because of an inspection is open to a challenge at the RTB. If you receive one, run it through the notice checker and ring Threshold on 1800 454 454.

Homes let under HAP

A home let under the Housing Assistance Payment must be inspected by the local authority within 8 months of the first HAP payment, and it must meet the 2019 Regulations. The inspection is arranged by the council's HAP section and does not need a request from you. If 8 months have passed and nobody has come, ask the HAP section when it is due. A failed HAP inspection does not stop the payment while the landlord does the work, but a landlord who refuses to do it can lose the tenancy's HAP approval.

HAP in 2026 covers the payment itself.

After the inspection: the RTB

The council's report gives you a document that says, in the State's words, what the home fails on. If the landlord still does nothing, open a dispute with the RTB for breach of the landlord's obligations under section 12 of the Act. Mediation is free and private. Adjudication costs €30 and the hearing is public since 14 September 2026. The RTB can order the work by a date and award damages of up to €20,000 for the time you lived with the problem, though the typical award is far lower.

How to make an RTB dispute application covers the form.

Where this leaves you

The local authority inspects rented homes against the 2019 standards, you can ask it to inspect yours, and the landlord cannot refuse. Write to the landlord first, keep paying rent, then send the council the address, the faults and the photographs. The inspector's report can lead to an improvement notice and a prohibition notice, and it is the best evidence for an RTB dispute afterwards. Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, is free if you want to talk it through first. The repairs journey takes the steps in order.