Landlord obligations in Ireland: the full list

A landlord's obligations are written down in section 12 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. They are not a matter of goodwill or of what the lease says. A lease clause that tries to remove one of them has no effect, and a tenant cannot be asked to sign the obligations away.

The list is longer than most tenants think. It covers registration with the RTB, repairs, the minimum standards, insurance, a rent book, the landlord's contact details and the return of the deposit. Since 1 March 2026 it also covers a rent-setting statement at the start of every new tenancy. Since 14 September 2026 the RTB can also issue fixed payment notices for registration and rent-information breaches without a hearing.

This guide sets out each obligation, where it comes from and what it means for you. The standards check takes you through the physical ones against your own home and drafts the letter and the inspection request.

The obligations at a glance

Registering the tenancy

Every private tenancy must be registered with the RTB. Registration has been annual since 4 April 2022, at €40 per tenancy per year, and a landlord who registers late pays a further €10 a month. The cost is the landlord's, never yours, and a clause passing it to you is not enforceable.

Registration matters to you for two reasons. The rent tax credit for a tenancy needs the RTB registration number, so an unregistered landlord costs you up to €1,000 a year in tax. And a landlord who has not registered cannot bring a dispute to the RTB, although you still can. RTB registration for tenants explains how to check the public register and what to do if your landlord will not register.

Repairs and the minimum standards

Section 12 requires the landlord to carry out repairs to the structure and the interior and to keep the home to the standard the 2019 Regulations set. The Regulations are specific. The structure must be free of damp and in good repair. There must be a fixed heating appliance in every room, under your control, hot and cold water, ventilation with extractors in the kitchen and bathroom, and a fire blanket and smoke alarms. The kitchen must have a cooker, a fridge-freezer, a sink, a microwave and storage. There must be a washing machine, and a dryer where there is no garden. Electrical and gas installations must be safe, with a carbon monoxide alarm where there is a fuel-burning appliance, and windows above ground level must have safety restrictors.

The full list, heading by heading, is in minimum standards for rented housing. The Act does not put a number of days on a repair. The site uses 3 days for something urgent, 7 days for heating and hot water, and 28 days for anything else as planning figures, not legal limits. Repairs: who fixes what covers the sequence, and the one rule that does not bend: keep paying the rent while a repair is outstanding.

The body that enforces the standards is your local authority's private rented inspection service, not the RTB. The inspector can serve an improvement notice and then a prohibition notice, and a home let under HAP must be inspected within 8 months. The RTB comes after, for an order and damages. Rented housing inspections explains how to ask for one.

Insurance, the rent book and contact details

The landlord must insure the building against fire and damage where insurance is reasonably available. That policy covers the structure, not your belongings. If you want cover for your own things you need a contents policy of your own.

Every tenant is entitled to a rent book, or an equivalent written record of what has been paid and when. The Housing (Rent Books) Regulations 1993 set out what it must contain. A bank statement showing a standing order is not a rent book, though it is good evidence. The rent book guide has a free layout you can keep yourself if the landlord does not.

The landlord must tell you their name and an address for notices, and the name of any agent acting for them. If you only have a first name and a phone number, ask in writing for the rest. You need it to serve your own notice and to name the landlord on an RTB application.

Rent: the cap, the review notice and the rent-setting statement

Since 1 March 2026 one rent rule applies across the State. Rent may be reviewed once in any 12 months and raised by no more than 2% or the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower, and never above market rent. For September 2026 the CPI figure is 4.1%, so the 2% arm is the lower one and applies. A review needs 90 days' notice in the prescribed form, with the RTB calculator printout and three comparable tenancies from the Rent Register, and a copy to the RTB within 7 days.

At the start of a tenancy that began on or after 1 March 2026 the landlord must give you and the RTB a rent-setting statement. It shows the previous rent for the home, when it was set, and three comparable tenancies. It is how you can tell whether the rent you are being asked for is lawful. The rent-setting statement explains what to look for, and the rent increase checker works the cap for your figures.

Rent paid over the cap can be ordered repaid, with damages of up to €20,000.

Privacy: peaceful and exclusive occupation

The home is yours for the length of the tenancy. The landlord may enter only by arrangement with you, except in a genuine emergency such as a burst pipe or a fire. A key does not give a right of entry, and a lease clause allowing unannounced inspections does not override the Act.

Since 1 March 2026 there is one addition. Where the landlord is selling and the sale is intended to complete within nine months, you must give agreed access at reasonable intervals for viewings. Agreed means agreed with you, at times that suit you, never a viewing you first learn of when the agent is at the door. Can a landlord enter without permission? covers entry, photographs, cameras and inspections in detail.

The deposit

A deposit is capped at one month's rent, and advance rent at one month, for any tenancy that began on or after 9 August 2021. The landlord holds the deposit and must return it promptly at the end of the tenancy, less rent arrears, bills you owed under the agreement and damage beyond normal wear and tear. There is no statutory number of days, and the deposit protection scheme in the 2015 Act has never been commenced. Getting your deposit back sets out the route.

The fixed payment notices since 14 September 2026

The Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 commenced most of its provisions on 14 September 2026. One of them lets the RTB issue a fixed payment notice to a landlord for certain breaches without going through a dispute. The amounts are €200 for a rent breach, such as a rent above the cap, and €100 for each of the other registration and rent-information breaches. The Act allows the amounts to be raised by order to €1,000 and €500.

The notice is between the RTB and the landlord. It does not give you compensation and it does not replace your right to open a dispute. What it does is make the obligations enforceable at the RTB's own initiative, which was not the case before. The same Act made adjudication hearings public for applications made from 14 September 2026, with the report naming both parties and the address.

What you can do when an obligation is not met

For a repair or a standards problem, write first. The letter builder drafts a repair request with a date, in your words, which becomes the record. If nothing happens, ask the local authority to inspect. Then, and only then, the RTB.

For any other breach of section 12, the route is an RTB dispute. Mediation is free and private. Adjudication costs €30 and the hearing is public since 14 September 2026. The RTB can order the landlord to carry out the repair, to register, to return the deposit or to repay rent, and can award damages of up to €20,000. The published figures show that the typical award is far lower, about €3,900 in one review, because the RTB compensates proven loss rather than distress.

Keep paying the rent throughout. Arrears give the landlord a ground to end the tenancy that they did not have, and they undercut your own case. Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, is free and reads these situations every day.

Where this leaves you

Your landlord's obligations are a fixed list. Register, repair, meet the standards, insure, leave you in peace, give a rent book and contact details, and keep rent within the cap. On a 2026 tenancy, give a rent-setting statement, and at the end return the deposit promptly. None of them can be signed away. Since 14 September 2026 the RTB can fine a landlord for registration and rent-information breaches without a hearing, and your own route to an order and damages is unchanged. Start with the standards check if the problem is the home itself, write to the landlord, and bring in the local authority before the RTB. Ring Threshold before you do anything else if you are unsure. The repairs journey takes those steps in order.