Can a landlord enter without permission? Privacy and viewings

A landlord cannot enter your home without your agreement. Section 12 of the Residential Tenancies Act requires the landlord to allow you peaceful and exclusive occupation of the dwelling. That means the home is yours for the length of the tenancy, and the landlord, their agent and anyone they send may come in only at a time arranged with you. The exception is a genuine emergency where waiting would cause harm.

The lease cannot change this. A clause allowing the landlord to inspect "at any reasonable time" or to "enter with a key" does not override the Act. A key is for emergencies and for the arrangements you have made, not a right of entry.

This guide answers the questions people type: entering, taking pictures, cameras, inspections and how often, lock-outs, and the one new rule since 1 March 2026 on viewings for a sale. The FAQ at the end has each in short form, and the letter builder drafts the letter that puts your position in writing.

The rule: entry by arrangement

Entry by arrangement means the landlord asks, you agree a time, and the landlord comes at that time. The Act does not set a notice period for the request. A day or two is normal for a routine visit; same-day may be reasonable for a repair you have asked for. What is not reasonable is a text saying "I'll be over at 2" with no question in it, or a visit you learn about from a neighbour.

You can say no to a time and offer another. You cannot refuse access altogether for a repair the landlord is obliged to do, because section 16 requires you to allow reasonable access for that, and refusing could leave the fault at your door. For anything else, the landlord needs your agreement each time.

Agents, tradespeople, surveyors and prospective buyers all come under the same rule. The landlord's agreement with them is not your agreement.

The exception: a genuine emergency

A landlord may enter without arrangement where there is an emergency: a fire, a burst pipe flooding the flat below, a gas smell, a reasonable belief that someone inside is in danger. The test is whether waiting to reach you would cause harm. A landlord who uses the word emergency for a routine check or a missed rent payment is not within the exception.

After an emergency entry, ask in writing what happened and why. A landlord acting in good faith will say.

Inspections: how often

The Act gives no number. An inspection is an entry like any other, so it is by arrangement. A landlord who wants to see the home every few months, at an agreed time, with reasonable notice, is within the rule. A landlord who wants to inspect weekly, or who turns up without asking, is interfering with your occupation and the RTB has treated repeated unannounced visits as a breach of section 12.

Agree each inspection in writing, even by a short text, and keep the thread. Photographs taken at an inspection should be of the condition of the home, not of your belongings or papers, and you can ask to see them. If the landlord wants an inventory photographed, that is reasonable at the start and the end of a tenancy and rarely in between.

Photographs and cameras

The landlord may photograph the home with your agreement, for a reason connected with the tenancy: a record of condition, a repair, or an advertisement for a sale or re-letting you know about. Photographs of your possessions, your documents, your family or you, without agreement, are not connected with the tenancy and you can refuse them. You can also ask that personal items be moved out of shot or that the photographs are not published.

A camera inside the dwelling is a different order of intrusion. It cannot be squared with exclusive occupation, and recording a person in their home without consent raises data protection law as well. A doorbell camera on the landlord's own door elsewhere is their business; one on your door, pointed inwards, is not. Cameras in the shared hallway or car park of an apartment block are usually the management company's, for security, and should be signed. Ask in writing what any camera records, who can see it and how long it is kept.

Viewings when the landlord is selling

Since 1 March 2026 the Act has one specific rule on viewings. Where the landlord is selling the home and the sale is intended to complete within nine months, you must give agreed access at reasonable intervals for viewings connected with the sale. That is in section 16(ca), and it applies whether or not a notice of termination has been served and whether the sale is with you in place or with vacant possession.

The words are agreed and reasonable. The landlord or the agent asks, you agree the times, and the viewings happen at those times with the agent present if you want. A weekly slot of an hour or two is a reasonable interval; daily viewings, evening viewings without warning, or an agent with a key who comes and goes are not. You do not have to leave the home during a viewing, tidy it to the agent's standard, or allow photographs of your belongings.

Outside a sale, nothing in the Act requires you to allow viewings. A landlord who wants to show the home to the next tenant while you are still in it needs your agreement, and you may say no or set your own terms. Landlord selling: your rights as the tenant covers the sale itself.

Lock-outs and cut-offs

Whatever the dispute, the landlord may never change the locks, remove a door, cut the electricity, gas or water, take your belongings or move someone else in to make you leave. That is an illegal eviction. The only lawful way to end a tenancy is a valid notice of termination and, if you do not leave, an RTB determination and then the courts. The RTB investigates lock-outs and cut-offs as improper conduct, can prosecute, and can award damages of up to €20,000 in a dispute.

If it happens, do not force your way back in or change the locks yourself. Ring the Gardaí on 999 or 112 if you are in danger or there is a confrontation, and ring Threshold on 1800 454 454. Then read illegal eviction, lock-outs and cut-offs, which has the steps for tonight.

What to do about unannounced visits

Put it in writing the first time. A short, calm letter that says you expect to be asked before any entry, that you are happy to agree times, and that you are recording the dates of visits is usually enough. The letter builder has a confirm-in-writing letter that does this without drama.

Keep a log of each visit with the date, time, who came and what was said, in your tenancy file. If the visits go on, it is a breach of section 12 and a dispute at the RTB can end in an order to stop and damages. Where the visits come with threats or pressure to leave, read landlord harassment. Keep paying the rent throughout; the landlord's conduct does not change your obligations.

Where this leaves you

Your landlord may come in only at a time arranged with you, or in a genuine emergency, and nothing in the lease changes that. Inspections are by arrangement with no fixed number, photographs are of the home and only with your agreement, cameras inside are not allowed, and a lock-out is an illegal eviction whatever the reason. Since 1 March 2026 you must allow agreed viewings at reasonable intervals where the home is being sold within nine months, and otherwise no viewings at all. Write to the landlord the first time it goes wrong, keep a log, and bring repeated entry to the RTB. Threshold on 1800 454 454 is free if you want to talk it through first.