Chapter 7 of 10 · The RTB process · 5 of 8
RTB damages: what is actually awarded
The €20,000 cap, the published averages, proven loss versus distress, and the receipts that change the figure.
Checked 27 OCT 2026 · 4 sourcesPublic hearings. Since 14 September 2026 adjudication hearings are public and the published report names both parties and the address. Mediation stays private. Choose between them knowing that.
Written in plain English for the person paying the rent. This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only.
The RTB can award damages of up to €20,000 against a landlord who breaches their obligations. That includes a lock-out, a cut-off, entry without agreement, a deposit kept without reason or a notice served in bad faith. The cap is in s.115 of the Act. The awards actually made are usually far below it.
A published review of RTB awards put the average at about €3,900, and that figure should be read as approximate. The reason is the way the RTB measures damages: it compensates the loss a tenant proves, not the distress a tenant felt. The tenant with the hotel invoices, the receipts and the rent record gets the loss back; the tenant with a strong story and no paper gets much less.
Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, before you put a figure on a claim. The advisers see awards every week and can say what the RTB has ordered on facts like yours. You do not need a solicitor; the process is built for self-representation.
The cap and what it covers
Section 115 sets the limits on what an adjudicator or tribunal can order. Damages for a breach of a landlord's obligations are capped at €20,000. That cap applies to each application, not to each breach, so a tenant with three complaints in one application is still within one €20,000 limit.
The same section deals separately with rent arrears owed to a landlord, which have their own limit. A claim for more than €20,000, which is rare for a tenant, belongs in the courts rather than the RTB, and the solicitor page explains when that is worth the cost.
Within the cap the RTB can order a sum, and it can also direct the landlord to do something. It can order a deposit returned, a repair carried out, rent charged over the cap repaid, or a locked-out tenant restored to the dwelling. The direction is often worth more than the money.
Proven loss, not distress
The RTB's approach is the ordinary law of damages: put the tenant back in the position they would have been in had the breach not happened. That means money you spent because of the breach, money you lost, and the value of what was taken from you. It does not mean a sum for the upset, the sleepless nights or the humiliation, except in the rare case where an adjudicator marks the seriousness of the conduct in the figure.
So a lock-out claim is built from the nights in a hotel or a friend's spare room, the storage of belongings, and the belongings that were lost or damaged. Add the extra travel, the days off work, and the rent paid for a home you could not use. A repairs claim is built from the heater you bought, the higher electricity bill, the clothes ruined by damp, and the repair you paid for yourself. A deposit claim is the deposit, less any deduction the Act allows.
A tenant who writes "I was terrified and could not sleep for weeks" and nothing else may be believed and still receive a few hundred euro. A tenant who writes the same and attaches a hotel invoice for €1,400, a receipt for a replacement laptop and a letter from their employer about three days' unpaid leave is in a different place.
The receipts that change the figure
Keep everything from the day the breach starts. Write each cost into your tenancy file as it happens, with the receipt or the bank line beside it. The list below is what adjudicators see most often.
| Loss | What proves it |
|---|---|
| Alternative accommodation after a lock-out | Hotel or hostel invoices; a dated statement from the friend who put you up |
| Belongings lost, damaged or withheld | Photographs, replacement receipts, an inventory with values, a Garda reference |
| Rent paid for a home you could not use | The rent record and the dates of the lock-out |
| A repair you paid for yourself | The tradesperson's invoice and the letters asking the landlord first |
| Extra bills caused by the breach | The bill before and the bill after |
| Lost earnings | A payslip or a letter from the employer for the days missed |
| Rent charged over the cap | The rent review notice and the RTB calculator figure |
| The deposit | The receipt or transfer, and the move-in and move-out photographs |
Where you have no receipt, write a dated note of what it cost and how you paid, and say so plainly at the hearing. An adjudicator can accept a reasonable estimate, but it will be a cautious one.
Lock-outs and cut-offs
Illegal eviction is the breach the cap was written for. Changing the locks, removing the door, cutting off the electricity, water or heating, removing belongings, or threatening a tenant into leaving are all breaches of the landlord's obligation to allow peaceful and exclusive occupation. The RTB can order restoration and damages, and separately it can investigate the conduct and prosecute the landlord.
The published awards for lock-outs range widely, and the top of the range is reached by tenants who lost a home, a job or belongings of real value and could show it. If it is happening now, illegal eviction, lock-outs and cut-offs covers tonight: Threshold, the Gardaí where there is danger, photographs, and a written demand to be let back in. The claim for damages comes after, and it is built from what you keep from tonight on.
Rent above the cap
Rent charged over the 2% or CPI cap is a breach the RTB treats with its own remedy: repayment of the overcharge, with damages up to the same €20,000 limit. The rent increase checker works out the overcharge from your figures, and challenging a rent increase covers the dispute. Since 14 September 2026 the RTB can also issue the landlord a €200 fixed payment notice for the breach. That is the RTB's penalty, not your compensation, and it does not reduce what you can claim.
Deposits
A deposit kept without a lawful reason is the most common tenant claim, and the usual award is the deposit itself, or the part the Act does not allow the landlord to keep. Damages on top are possible where the landlord's conduct went beyond a disagreement about deductions, but the deposit is the figure to expect. Getting your deposit back sets out the steps, and the deposit tool checks the deductions claimed against the Act.
Where this leaves you
The RTB can award up to €20,000 for a breach of a landlord's obligations, and in practice awards an average of about €3,900, because it compensates proven loss and not distress. The figure in your case is the sum of what you can show you spent, lost or were owed: rent, accommodation, belongings, repairs, bills, earnings, the deposit. Keep every receipt from the first day, write each cost into your tenancy file, and put the breach and the losses to the landlord in writing with the letter builder before you apply. Ring Threshold on 1800 454 454 for a view on the figure. How to make an RTB dispute application covers the application itself.
Questions people ask
How much compensation can I get for an illegal eviction in Ireland?
The Act caps damages for a breach of a landlord's obligations, including a lock-out, at €20,000. The published average is far lower, about €3,900 in one review, because the RTB compensates loss you can prove, not distress. The figure in your case depends on what you lost and what you can show.
Does the RTB award damages for stress?
Rarely, and not as a separate head. An adjudicator may recognise the seriousness of a breach in the figure, but the award is built on proven loss: rent, hotel bills, lost or damaged belongings, the cost of alternative accommodation, a repair you paid for. A statement that you were upset, without a receipt behind it, adds little.
What is the maximum the RTB can award?
€20,000 for damages for a breach of obligations under s.115. Rent arrears owed to a landlord are a separate head with a separate limit. A claim above the cap belongs in the courts, and a solicitor is worth considering for one.
Can the RTB order the landlord to let me back in?
Yes. For a lock-out the RTB can direct the landlord to restore you to the dwelling as well as award damages. If the landlord ignores that direction the order is enforced in the District Court and the RTB can take the case for you. In an emergency ring Threshold and, where there is danger, the Gardaí.
Do I need receipts to claim damages?
Not for every euro, but every receipt raises the figure. A hotel invoice, a bank statement, a replacement receipt, a tradesperson's bill or a bus ticket proves the loss and the amount. Where you have no receipt, a dated note of the cost and how you paid is the next best evidence.