The 7-day RTB copy rule and service by email

Since 14 September 2026 a landlord who serves a notice of termination must send the RTB a copy within 7 days. A notice whose copy does not reach the RTB in time is invalid under the Act as amended, and an invalid notice does not end your tenancy. From 1 March to 13 September 2026 the copy had to reach the RTB on the same day the notice was served.

The amending Act, the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, followed a High Court decision on service by post, Argutinski v RTB [2026] IEHC 225. A posted notice is served when it is delivered, not when it is sent, so the RTB now recommends email or hand delivery for termination notices.

This guide covers both rules: how to find out whether the RTB received a copy of your notice, and how the method of service fixes your date of service. The notice checker asks about both and counts the days from the right date.

The copy rule by date of service

The rule is keyed on the date of service, which is the day the notice reached you, not the date the notice was written. The 7 days run from that day. A notice served before 1 March 2026 falls outside these two dates, and Threshold can say what applied on the day it was served.

The landlord sends the copy through the RTB's own notice of termination return form on rtb.ie, or by another route the RTB accepts. The form is the landlord's to complete, and nothing on this site stands in for it. What matters to you is whether a copy arrived and when.

Why the copy matters

The RTB copy is one of the section 62 requirements, alongside the signature, the dates, the reason, the dispute statement and the statutory declaration. The Act says that a notice without a copy to the RTB in time is invalid. That is the law's verdict on a class of notice. Whether your own notice falls into that class depends on a fact you may not yet have, which is why the RTB's answer matters. Until then your notice may be invalid on your answers, and no more than that.

An invalid notice does not end the tenancy, and the termination date on it has no effect. The landlord's only lawful route is a fresh and valid notice with a fresh notice period, or an RTB determination. Do not treat a suspected defect as permission to ignore the dates. Keep paying rent and keep to the dispute window.

Notice of termination: what a valid notice must contain covers the other items on the list.

How to ask the RTB whether it received a copy

You can ask the RTB directly. Write to the RTB with the address of the dwelling, your name, the landlord's name, the date of service on the notice and the date it reached you. Ask whether the RTB received a copy of the notice and, if so, on what date. Keep a copy of your request and of the reply. The letter builder has a confirm-in-writing letter you can adapt, and the RTB's page on notices of termination gives its contact routes.

Say in your request whether the tenancy is registered. The RTB's public register shows that, and RTB registration for tenants explains how to check it. A registered tenancy is easier for the RTB to find.

If you refer the notice to the RTB as a dispute, the RTB's own record of whether and when a copy came in is before the adjudicator. You do not need the landlord's cooperation to prove it. Say in your application that you question whether a copy was sent in time.

Keep your request, the reply and the notice itself in your tenancy file.

Service by post: Argutinski v RTB

In Argutinski v RTB [2026] IEHC 225 the High Court held that a notice sent by post is served when it is ordinarily delivered or actually received, not when it is posted. A landlord who posts a notice and writes the posting date as the date of service has the date wrong. Every clock then starts from the wrong day: the notice period, the termination date and the 7 days for the RTB copy.

Since 14 September 2026 the RTB has said that termination notices should not be posted, and it recommends email or hand delivery instead. Rent-setting and rent-review notices may still be posted. A posted termination notice is not automatically invalid, but its stated date of service is unreliable, and a notice period counted from the wrong day may come up short.

If your notice came by post, write down the day it arrived and keep the envelope with its postmark. That day, not the date printed on the notice, is your date of service, and the notice checker counts from it.

Service by email and by hand

An email is writing for the purposes of the Act, and a notice sent as an email or an attachment is served when it reaches an address you use. The notice must still be signed, which can be a scanned or an electronic signature of the landlord or their agent. Keep the email with its date and time; that is your evidence of when it arrived.

A notice handed to you is served that day. A notice left at the dwelling or put through the letterbox is served when you receive it, so note the day you found it.

A text message, a WhatsApp message or a conversation is not a notice of termination. Keep them as evidence of what was said, but the tenancy does not end on them.

What to do now

Fix your date of service first. Then run the notice through the notice checker, which asks whether the RTB received a copy and lists the answer beside the other section 62 items.

Write to the RTB about the copy the same week. The dispute window, 90 days from service or 28 days for a breach notice, does not pause while you wait for a reply. If the window is close, refer the notice to the RTB first and raise the copy point inside the dispute.

Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm. The advisers see these notices every day and can say whether the copy point is worth pursuing in your case. Do not move out and do not stop paying rent while you wait. How to make an RTB dispute application covers the form.

Where this leaves you

A notice served since 14 September 2026 needs a copy with the RTB within 7 days, and a notice served between 1 March and 13 September 2026 needed it the same day. A notice that misses that may be invalid on your answers, and only the RTB can say. You can ask the RTB whether it received a copy, and the RTB's own record is before the adjudicator if you refer the notice. If your notice came by post, the day it arrived is your date of service. Count from there, keep paying rent, ring Threshold, and refer the notice inside the window. The notice journey takes the steps in order.