Renting on a work permit or as a new arrival

Your rights as a tenant do not depend on your immigration status. The Residential Tenancies Act does not ask what permission you hold. A tenant on a work permit, a student permission or the graduate scheme has every right the Act gives. That means the deposit capped at one month, Part 4 security after six months, the 2% or CPI cap on rent, the notice rules and the RTB. A landlord who treats you differently because of your nationality may be in breach of the Equal Status Acts.

What is harder for a new arrival is the paperwork. You need an address before you can get most other things, and most other things are what a landlord asks for before giving you an address. This guide takes the paperwork in the order you meet it. First the deposit and the scams, then references without an Irish history, the proof of address, the registered tenancy and the rent tax credit, and the rent agreement an immigration application accepts.

Your rights do not depend on your status

Everything on this site applies to you. The moving-in journey takes the first weeks in order, and tenant rights in Ireland is the overview. Three points matter most to a new arrival.

The deposit is capped at one month's rent and advance rent at one month, so no landlord can lawfully ask for more than two months' money before you move in. After six continuous months you have Part 4 security, which for a tenancy that began on or after 1 March 2026 is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration in six-year cycles. And the landlord must register the tenancy with the RTB, which is the document that unlocks the rest of this guide.

A landlord may not refuse you on the ground of race, which includes nationality and ethnic origin, under the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2015. A complaint goes to the Workplace Relations Commission. Keep any message that gives nationality as the reason.

Before you sign: the deposit, the advance rent and the scams

New arrivals are the main target of rental scams, because they are searching from abroad and need somewhere fast. Never pay a deposit for a home you have not seen, or to someone who cannot meet you at the door with a key. Never pay by a method that cannot be traced. A landlord who says the deposit must be paid before a viewing, or who is abroad and will post the keys, is a warning sign, not a landlord. Rental scams in Ireland lists the patterns.

When you do pay, pay one month's deposit and no more than one month's rent in advance, by bank transfer with a reference, and get a receipt. Deposits and advance rent covers the caps, and the move-in checklist covers the inventory and the photographs you take on the first day.

References without an Irish history

A landlord may ask for references and proof that you can pay the rent, and may not ask for anything that discriminates. Without an Irish landlord to vouch for you, offer what you have.

• A letter from your employer confirming your job, your start date and your salary, or the employment contract itself.
• The work permit or the letter granting your permission, which shows you are entitled to be here and to work.
• Bank statements showing the rent is affordable; you may black out what the landlord does not need.
• A reference from your last landlord abroad, in English or with a translation, with their contact details.
• A character reference from a previous employer or a college.
• Your passport for identity. A landlord may see it; a landlord does not need to keep a copy.

A landlord cannot insist on an Irish reference as a condition, and the absence of one is not a lawful reason to prefer someone else because of where they are from. References: what a landlord may ask for sets out the limits.

Proof of address: what the tenancy gives you

The address is the document everything else waits for. A tenancy gives you several, in roughly the order they arrive.

Ask for the tenancy agreement to be signed by both of you, with your full name as it appears on your passport. It should carry the address in full, the landlord's name and contact details, the rent and the start date. Tenancy agreements in Ireland lists what the agreement must contain. A landlord's letter on the first day costs nothing to ask for and is accepted by most banks and employers alongside the agreement.

The StampWise guide on proof of address, linked below, covers which documents each office accepts, including the immigration registration office and the banks.

The registered tenancy and the rent tax credit

The landlord must register the tenancy with the RTB within a month of it starting and pay €40 a year. The RTB's confirmation letter names the tenants and the address, and the public register shows whether an address is registered. Ask the landlord for the registration number in the first month. RTB registration for tenants explains how to check it and what to do if the landlord will not register.

The registration number is what the rent tax credit needs. The credit is 20% of the rent you pay, up to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple for 2024, 2025 and 2026. Budget 2027 announced €1,150 and €2,300 for 2027 and 2028. To claim it you need a PPS number, which you apply for with proof of address and your permission, and a myAccount with Revenue, which follows once you have a PPS number and a job. If you rent a room in the owner's home you are a licensee, the arrangement cannot be registered, and the credit is claimed without a number.

The credit is claimed for a year after it ends, or during the year through your tax credits, and it can be claimed back four years, so a late start costs nothing. The rent tax credit guide walks through myAccount.

The rent agreement an immigration application accepts

Immigration applications ask for evidence of where you live and, for renewals and for citizenship, evidence that you have lived in the State for the period claimed. A signed tenancy agreement with your name, the address, the landlord's details and the dates is the document they expect, and the RTB registration confirmation supports it. A registered tenancy with the rent tax credit claimed on it is a record the State itself holds for each year. That is why it is worth claiming even in a year when the sum is small.

For a room in a shared home, where there is no tenancy to register, a written licence agreement and a signed letter from the owner confirming the dates serve the same purpose. Ask for both on the day you move in rather than months later.

Keep every agreement, every RTB letter and every rent record from your first day in the State. Continuous residence for citizenship is counted over years, and the tenancy agreements are the simplest evidence of where you were in each of them. The StampWise guides linked below set out what each application asks for, including the graduate scheme on Stamp 1G and the documents for a citizenship application.

If you rent a room in someone's home

Many new arrivals start in a room in the owner's home, which is a licence outside the Act. There is no RTB, no deposit cap and no statutory notice; the agreement and reasonable notice govern it, and the rent tax credit is still available without a registration number. Licensees and lodgers covers that position. Get the agreement and the owner's letter in writing on the first day, because they are also your proof of address.

Where this leaves you

A work permit or a new arrival changes nothing about your rights under the Act: the deposit cap, Part 4 security, the rent cap, the notice rules and the RTB are all yours. What it changes is the paperwork, and the tenancy is the paperwork. Sign a full agreement in your passport name and ask for a landlord's letter on the first day. Get the RTB registration number in the first month, and claim the rent tax credit once you have a PPS number. Keep all of it, because the same documents prove your address this year and your residence years from now. Threshold on 1800 454 454 advises every tenant in the State, whatever their status, and the rent tax credit calculator shows what your first year is worth back.