Chapter 4 of 10 · Security of tenure · 5 of 7
Tenancies of minimum duration: the six-year cycle from 2026
For tenancies that began on or after 1 March 2026: the six-year cycle, what a landlord can do during it and at the end, and the rent reset.
Checked 27 OCT 2026 · 4 sourcesWritten in plain English for the person paying the rent. This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only.
A Tenancy of Minimum Duration is the form of Part 4 tenancy that arises in any tenancy that began on or after 1 March 2026. Once you have been in the home for six months without a valid notice of termination, the tenancy runs in six-year cycles. During a cycle the landlord may end it only on a short list of grounds, and the list depends on whether the landlord is smaller or larger. At the end of a cycle a smaller landlord gets a few more grounds, and the rent can be reset to market.
The tenancy was created by the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, which inserted a new section 35B into the 2004 Act. If your tenancy began before 1 March 2026, none of this applies to you; tenancies that began before 1 March 2026 explains what does. The tenancy timeline takes your start date and shows the day Part 4 arose and the day your first cycle ends.
This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only. It applies to private, Approved Housing Body, cost-rental and student-specific tenancies under the Act, not to a licensee in the owner's own home.
How the cycle runs
| Point in the tenancy | What the Act says |
|---|---|
| The day the tenancy begins | The clock starts for both the six months and the six years. |
| The first six months | The landlord may serve a notice without a ground, with a reason stated on it and at least 90 days' notice. |
| Six months | If no valid notice has been served, the Tenancy of Minimum Duration arises. |
| During the cycle | Any landlord may end it for a breach, arrears, serious anti-social behaviour or unsuitability. A smaller landlord may also end it for close family occupation or a hardship sale. |
| The sixth anniversary | The cycle ends. A smaller landlord may end it for family occupation, a sale, substantial refurbishment or change of use. The rent may be reset to market. |
| After the sixth anniversary | If no valid notice has been served, a new six-year cycle begins on the same terms. |
The cycle runs from the day the tenancy began, not from the day the Part 4 rights arose. A tenancy that began on 1 April 2026 has its first cycle end on 1 April 2032. A notice for a cycle-end ground must be served before the cycle ends, with the termination date on or after it, and it must give the full notice period for your length of tenancy. At six years that is 180 days.
What any landlord can do during a cycle
Four grounds are open to every landlord at any point in the tenancy, whatever their size. A breach of your obligations, after a written warning and a chance to put it right, carries 28 days' notice. Rent arrears carry a warning notice giving 28 days to pay in full, then a 28-day termination notice. Serious anti-social behaviour carries 7 days' notice and no warning. The fourth ground is that the dwelling no longer suits the needs of the household, for example because the household has grown; the landlord must state the facts in writing with the notice.
In the first six months any landlord may serve a notice without a ground. Since 1 March 2026 that notice must still state a reason, must give at least 90 days, and must reach the RTB as a copy within 7 days. Once the six months pass without a valid notice, the list above is the whole list for a larger landlord.
What a smaller landlord can also do
A smaller landlord is an individual with three or fewer tenancies on the day the notice is served. Smaller and larger landlords covers how to find out which you have and the letter to the RTB that asks.
During a cycle a smaller landlord has two further grounds. The first is that the landlord or a close family member needs to live in the dwelling. Close family means a spouse, civil partner, child, step-child, foster or adopted child, parent, step-parent or parent-in-law. The second is a sale needed to avoid undue financial or other hardship. The Act defines that narrowly. The proceeds are needed for a principal residence for the landlord or their spouse. Or a debt of more than 15% of the asking price falls due within nine months. Or the landlord is in a formal insolvency process. Retirement alone is not hardship. The hardship sale ground explains it in full.
At the end of a cycle a smaller landlord may end the tenancy on four grounds. Family occupation, where the family definition widens to include a grandparent, grandchild or sibling. A sale, with no hardship test. Substantial refurbishment, with a certificate, the dwelling vacant for at least three weeks, and the home offered back to you afterwards. And a change of use.
Each of those grounds needs a statutory declaration attached to the notice. Since 1 March 2026 a smaller landlord's declaration must also state that they are not a company and have no more than three tenancies. For a hardship sale it must state that the sale is needed to avoid hardship. A notice on one of these grounds without the declaration may be invalid.
What a larger landlord cannot do
A larger landlord has four or more tenancies, or is a company of any size. A larger landlord's grounds are the four listed above and nothing else, during a cycle or at the end of one. A larger landlord cannot end a 2026 tenancy to sell, to move family in, to refurbish or to change the use of the dwelling.
A larger landlord may sell at any time with you in place. The buyer takes over the tenancy and the remainder of the cycle, with your start date unchanged. The buyer's own size then decides the grounds from the day any later notice is served; a buyer who is an individual with three or fewer tenancies is a smaller landlord from then on. Landlord selling: your rights as the tenant covers viewings and the sale itself.
The rent during and at the end of a cycle
During a cycle the national cap applies. The rent may be reviewed once in any 12 months, and may rise by no more than 2% or the annual change in the CPI, whichever is lower, and never above market rent. The review needs 90 days' notice in the prescribed form, with the RTB calculator printout and three comparable tenancies from the Rent Register. The rent increase checker tests a review against those rules.
At the end of each six-year cycle the rent may be reset to market. That is the one time inside a 2026 tenancy that a reset is allowed. It is the main practical difference from a tenancy that began before 1 March 2026, which is never reset while it lasts. The reset is still a rent review: 90 days' notice, the prescribed form, the calculator printout and the comparables. If the new figure is above market rent, you may refer it to the RTB within 28 days of the date the new rent is to start. When rent can be reset to market has the detail.
Between tenancies the rule is tighter than it was. A landlord may set a market rent for a new tenancy of the dwelling only where the previous tenancy ended by the tenant's choice, a tenant breach or unsuitability. It is never allowed within two years of a termination that was not the tenant's fault. A termination in the first six months counts as not the tenant's fault.
Notice periods and the time to dispute
The notice periods are the same as for every other tenancy and do not depend on landlord size. They run from 90 days for a tenancy under six months to 152 days from six months to a year. Then 180 days from one to seven years, 196 days from seven to eight, and 224 days after eight. The breach, arrears and anti-social grounds carry their own shorter periods. The full tables are in notice periods for tenants in 2026.
You have 90 days from the date of service to refer a notice to the RTB, or 28 days for a notice that cites a breach. The notice must tell you so. A notice whose ground was not open to your landlord, or that lacks the declaration, may be invalid, and an invalid notice does not end the tenancy. Do not move out and do not stop paying rent while you check it. The notice checker works through each requirement, and Threshold on 1800 454 454 reads notices every day for free.
Where this leaves you
If your tenancy began on or after 1 March 2026, your Part 4 tenancy runs in six-year cycles from the day it began. During a cycle any landlord may end it only for a breach, arrears, serious anti-social behaviour or unsuitability, and a smaller landlord also for close family occupation or a hardship sale. At the cycle end a smaller landlord may also use a sale, refurbishment, change of use or wider family occupation, and the rent may be reset to market. A larger landlord never gets more than the first four grounds. The notice periods and the 90 days to dispute are the same as for everyone else. Put your start date into the tenancy timeline to see your cycle-end date, and ring Threshold on 1800 454 454 if a notice has arrived.
Questions people ask
Do I have to stay for six years in a tenancy of minimum duration?
No. The six years bind the landlord, not you. You can end the tenancy at any time with your own notice of termination, from 28 days in the first six months to 112 days after eight years. A fixed-term lease can limit when you serve it, but the Act's six-year cycle never does.
Can my landlord raise the rent to market after six years?
At the end of each six-year cycle the rent can be reset to market, which is the one point inside a 2026 tenancy where that is allowed. The reset still needs a rent review notice with 90 days, the RTB calculator printout and three comparables, and it can never go above market rent. During the cycle the rise is capped at 2% or the CPI, whichever is lower.
Can a landlord with four properties end my tenancy to sell?
Not where the tenancy began on or after 1 March 2026. A landlord with four or more tenancies, or any company, is a larger landlord and may end the tenancy only for a breach, arrears, serious anti-social behaviour or the dwelling no longer suiting the household. They may sell at any time with you in place, and the buyer takes over the rest of the cycle.
When does my first six-year cycle end?
On the sixth anniversary of the day the tenancy began, not six years after the Part 4 tenancy arose at six months. The tenancy timeline works the date out from your start date. A notice for a cycle-end ground must be served before the cycle ends, with the termination date on or after it.
What happens at the end of the cycle if no notice is served?
A new six-year cycle begins on the same terms. The landlord's grounds go back to the during-cycle list, and the next point at which a smaller landlord can use the cycle-end grounds, or reset the rent to market, is six years later.