Rent arrears warning notices and the 28 days

Falling behind on the rent does not end your tenancy by itself, and a landlord cannot end it the week a payment is missed. The Act sets a two-step process. First comes a written warning notice giving you 28 days to pay everything owed. Then, only if the arrears are still there, comes a notice of termination with a 28-day notice period. You then have 28 days from service to refer that notice to the RTB.

Three separate periods of 28 days, and each one matters. The arrears planner works out the dates from the day the warning reached you and builds a payment plan against them, with the free supports beside it.

Everything below is for the Republic of Ireland. If you are a licensee in the owner's own home, the Act does not apply and the notice rules are different.

Step one: the warning notice

The landlord must first give you a written warning that rent is owed and that you have 28 days to pay it in full. The warning must say how much is owed. The landlord must also send a copy of the warning to the RTB. A warning that only reached you, and never the RTB, may not meet the Act.

The warning is not a notice of termination. Nothing ends on the 28th day. What the warning does is open the ground: if the arrears are still unpaid when the 28 days are up, the landlord may then serve a notice of termination for arrears.

If you pay everything owed within the 28 days, the ground closes. The landlord cannot serve a termination notice for those arrears, and a new warning would be needed if you fell behind again. The Act says payment in full, so a part payment does not close the ground on its own. If part payment is all you can manage, pay it anyway and say so in writing; it narrows the figure and shows good faith to the RTB later.

A text saying "pay up or you are out" is not a warning notice under the Act. Keep it as evidence, but the clock the Act recognises starts with a written warning that states the sum and the 28 days.

Step two: the termination notice

Once the 28 days have passed without full payment, the landlord may serve a notice of termination. The notice period is 28 days whatever the length of your tenancy, because arrears is treated as a breach of your obligations. It is the same 28 days for a smaller landlord and a larger one, and for a tenancy that began before or after 1 March 2026.

The notice must still pass every test in section 62. It must be in writing and signed, dated, state the date of service and the termination date, give the reason, and tell you that you may refer a dispute to the RTB within 28 days. A copy must reach the RTB within 7 days of service. The termination date must give you the whole of the 28th day. What a valid notice must contain goes through each item, and the notice checker tests your notice against them.

An arrears notice served without the warning, or before the warning's 28 days ran out, is served on a ground that was not open. It may be invalid, and an invalid notice does not end the tenancy. Only the RTB can decide that, which is why the dispute window matters.

Step three: the 28-day dispute window

For most notices the window to refer a dispute to the RTB is 90 days. For a notice that cites a breach of your obligations, including arrears, it is 28 days from the date of service. That is shorter than the notice period itself in some cases, so count it from the day the notice reached you and write the last day down.

You can refer the notice if the warning was never given or did not go to the RTB. You can refer it if the figures are wrong, if you paid in full within the 28 days, or if the notice itself misses a requirement. You can also refer it where the arrears arose because the landlord failed in an obligation, for instance where you paid for repairs the landlord should have done. The Act does not allow rent to be withheld over repairs, so that argument needs the proof of what you paid and why.

Mediation is free and private. Adjudication costs €30 and, since 14 September 2026, the hearing is public and the report names both parties. How to make an RTB dispute application covers the form.

The three periods side by side

The second and third periods run at the same time. A notice served on the 1st gives a termination date no earlier than the 29th, and the last day to refer a dispute is also the 29th. The planner lays them out on one ruler.

Keep paying, and pay what you can

Do not stop paying the current rent while any of this runs. Each missed month adds to the arrears and strengthens the ground. If you cannot pay the full rent, pay what you can on the due date and tell the landlord in writing what you are doing and why. Keep every receipt and every message in your tenancy file.

Do not move out because a warning arrived. The warning does not end the tenancy, and leaving early forfeits the 28 days you have to put things right.

Where the money can come from

Rent arrears usually follow lost income: a job that ended, hours that were cut, an illness. The supports exist for exactly that, and most of them are quicker than people expect.

MABS, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, is free and confidential: 0818 07 2000, Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm. An adviser looks at the whole picture, helps you make an offer the landlord can accept, and deals with other creditors so the rent comes first.

The Additional Needs Payment from the Department of Social Protection can cover a once-off shortfall, including rent arrears, where you cannot meet it from your own income. The Additional Needs Payment for a rent shortfall explains how to apply. If your income has fallen for longer, ask the local authority about HAP, or the Department about Rent Supplement if you are not on the housing list. Rent arrears: where to get help sets out all of them in order.

If the arrears started with a redundancy, EmploymentWise, the sister site on employment law, has a redundancy calculator that works out the statutory payment you are owed. Sick pay and the illness benefit are on the same site. A clear figure for what is coming in makes the conversation with the landlord and with MABS far easier.

Talk to the landlord in writing

Most landlords would rather have the rent than the vacancy. A written offer that names a sum, a date and a schedule for the balance is worth sending the day the warning arrives. Say what caused the shortfall, what has changed, and when the full rent resumes. Ask for the reply in writing. The letter builder has a confirm-in-writing letter you can adapt.

An agreement to clear the arrears over time does not cancel a warning the landlord has already served. Ask the landlord to confirm in writing that the warning is withdrawn, or that no termination notice will be served while the plan is kept. Keep the confirmation.

Where this leaves you

A missed payment starts nothing on its own. The landlord must first serve a written warning with a copy to the RTB, and you have 28 days to pay in full. Only then can a termination notice follow, with 28 days' notice and 28 days to refer it to the RTB. Pay what you can, keep the current rent going, and put every offer in writing. Ring MABS on 0818 07 2000 about the money and Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, about the notice. The help paying journey takes the supports in order.