Rental scams in Ireland: how to spot one

A rental scam in Ireland nearly always comes down to one request: pay money before you have seen the inside of the home and met the person letting it. The deposit-before-viewing scam, the landlord who is abroad and will post the keys, and the copied listing at a price too good to be true are all versions of it. The rule that defeats every one of them is the same. Pay nothing until you have viewed, met, and signed.

The pressure of the market is what the scam relies on. The RTB's Rent Index put a new tenancy at €1,839 a month in Q1 2026, up 9.1% on the year, and a listing at half that draws hundreds of replies in an hour. The scam then asks you to move faster than the checks allow. This guide lists the signs, the checks, and where to report it. The move-in checklist builds the checks into the first week.

This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only.

The common scams

The deposit before the viewing. The "landlord" says demand is high and a deposit will hold the home until you can view. The viewing never happens. The money has gone to an account that is closed the next day.

The landlord abroad. The owner is working in another country, cannot show the home, and will post the keys once the deposit and the first month's rent arrive. Sometimes a courier or a "property management company" is named to make it feel safe. There are no keys.

The copied listing. A real listing's photographs and text are copied to another site with a lower rent and a new contact. The real home exists and may even be viewable from the street, which is what makes it convincing. The real landlord knows nothing about it.

The fake agent. An email or a website in the name of a real letting agency, with a near-identical address, asking for money to an account the agency does not use. The agency's real phone number, found independently, exposes it.

The existing tenant who is not the landlord. A person who is renting the home, or has access to it, shows it and takes deposits from several people in one weekend, then leaves. The viewing is real; the right to let is not.

The overpayment. A "landlord" overpays you by cheque or transfer for something and asks for the balance back. The original payment bounces after you have sent yours.

The signs

No single sign proves a scam, but each of these should stop you until it is explained. A genuine landlord or agent can explain any one of them in a sentence. A scammer answers with more urgency.

• The rent is well below what similar homes in the area are let at. The RTB's figures by county are on the figures page.
• You are asked to pay a deposit, a holding fee, a "viewing fee" or the first month's rent before a viewing.
• The landlord cannot meet you, is abroad, or will only communicate by email or messaging app.
• You are asked to pay by wire transfer to a foreign account, by cryptocurrency, by gift card, or by a money-transfer service.
• The deposit asked for is more than one month's rent. The Act caps it at one month, and a genuine landlord knows that.
• The listing's photographs appear elsewhere online, at a different price or in a different city.
• The agreement comes as a PDF to sign before anyone has met, often with a "lease" that cites laws from another country.
• You are hurried: the home will go today, others are waiting, the price is only good until tonight.

The checks to run

The checks take an hour and cost nothing. Do them in the order below, and stop at the first one the landlord or agent will not let you complete. A genuine letting survives every one of them.

View the home in person, inside, and meet the person who is letting it. Ask for photo identification and, if they say they are an agent, for the agency's name and licence number. Letting agents in Ireland must hold a licence from the Property Services Regulatory Authority, and its public register can be searched. Ring the agency on the number from its own website, not from the listing.

Search the RTB's public register for the address. If a tenancy exists at that address, it is registered, and a landlord who has let before will know the register. A new home will not be there yet, so an absence proves nothing; a presence under a different kind of letting may.

Search the photographs and the listing text online. A listing that appears twice with two prices and two contacts is one listing and one copy.

Ask for proof that the person has the right to let: a recent utility bill or a Land Registry folio in the landlord's name, or the agency's written authority. A genuine landlord can produce one of these without difficulty.

Pay only after you have signed a written agreement, received a receipt and been given the keys, and pay by bank transfer to an account in the landlord's or the agency's name. Never cash, never a foreign account, never a transfer service. Keep the account details, the receipt and the agreement. Tenancy agreements in Ireland sets out what the agreement should contain, and deposits and advance rent sets out the one-month caps.

If you have paid

Ring your bank at once. A transfer within Ireland or the EU can sometimes be recalled if the receiving bank is told quickly, and the bank's fraud line will tell you what it can do. Do not wait for the landlord to reply.

Report it to the Gardaí at your local station or through the Garda website. Take the listing, the messages, the account details and the receipt. A report is needed for the bank and for any insurance, and the Gardaí pursue the account holder.

Report the listing to the platform it appeared on so it is removed. If you sent identity documents, a passport or a PPSN, tell the Data Protection Commission and keep an eye on your bank and your credit record for accounts opened in your name.

The RTB cannot help with the money. The RTB resolves disputes under a tenancy, and a scam creates none. That is why nothing in this guide depends on the RTB and everything depends on the checks before you pay.

Scams on the way out

Two scams target the tenant who is leaving rather than arriving. A "landlord" who writes from a new email address asking for the last month's rent to a new account is often not the landlord. Confirm any change of account by ringing the landlord on the number you have always used. And a landlord who keeps a deposit for "professional cleaning" that was never needed is not running a scam in the criminal sense. They are holding money the Act says must be returned. Getting your deposit back covers that.

Where this leaves you

Every rental scam asks for money before you have seen inside, met the lender of the keys and signed. Refuse that request and the scam has nothing to work with. View in person, check the agent's licence and the RTB register, search the listing, and ask for proof of ownership. Pay by traceable transfer only after signing, and only up to one month's deposit and one month's rent. If you have paid, your bank and the Gardaí are the route, not the RTB. For a listing that feels wrong but you cannot say why, Threshold on 1800 454 454 has heard every version and will tell you.