Residential Tenancies Board

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 Every tenancy must be registered with the RTB & renewed on an annual basis. Home-Club will register your tenancy with the RTB on your behalf and guide you through any issues that may arise throughout the tenancy. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is an organisation set up by the Government of Ireland. The RTB's main functions are to: Maintain a register of private residential tenancies, tenancies of approved housing bodies and student-specific accommodation tenancies. Provide a dispute resolution service for tenants and landlords. Carry out research into the private rented sector. The Board is now working on a statutory basis, since the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 in July, 2004. For more comprehensive information visit the legislation section on the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government’s website.

The registration of tenancies enables the RTB to collect important data on the rental sector. It is also a key part of regulating and supporting the sector and ensuring that landlords and tenants are aware of their rights and responsibilities. There are penalties for landlords who do not register their tenancies.

Since 2004, the RTB replaced the courts in dealing with the majority of disputes between landlords and tenants through our Dispute Resolution Service. This service offers a choice of resolution types to parties – Telephone Mediation or Adjudication – and the option to appeal through a Tenancy Tribunal. The dispute resolution process used by the PRTB is confidential, supportive and non-confrontational. Landlords, tenants or other parties directly affected (e.g. neighbours) can initiate the dispute resolution process. Landlords must be registered with the PRTB to use the dispute resolution service. 

The service covers disputes about deposits, lease terms, termination of tenancies, rent arrears, market rents, complaints by neighbours, breaches of statutory obligations by either landlord or tenant and any other matters related to the tenancy. The Board can also deal with disputes about terms of a lease or other tenancy agreement that are not specified in the Act. It should not be necessary to have legal representation when taking a case to the PRTB.

The RTB has powers to investigate and sanction landlords who engage in certain breaches of rental law called Improper Conduct, such as unlawfully setting the rent in an RPZ above 4% or ending a tenancy by citing a reason which the landlord did not ultimately act on, amongst others. Investigations can commence either on the basis of information received from a member of the public or proactively by the RTB on the basis of information available to us under the Residential Tenancies Act. Sanctions include a formal written caution and/or a fine of up to €15,000 and/or costs of up to €15,000.