Thousands of landlords could face fines of up to €15,000 for illegally increasing rents in a new campaign to crack down on noncompliance with rent pressure zone (RPZ) rules.
New data collected by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and studied by the Economic and Social Research Institute has identified 16,000 “tenancies of concern”, where landlords were found to have increased rents above the 2 per cent threshold allowed in RPZs.
In October 2024, the RTB began a compliance campaign targeting these landlords, asking them to correct their rent and return overpaid rent to tenants. It ran a webinar for landlords on how to correctly calculate rents as well as national and local radio advertisements to remind landlords of their obligations.
As part of the second phase of this campaign over the coming months, the RTB’s compliance and enforcement team will be bringing cases of ongoing and deliberate noncompliance into its investigation and sanctions process.
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“Sanctions can lead to a written caution and/or a fine of up to €15,000,” the RTB said.
This comes amid question marks over the future of the RPZ system, after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government would be reviewing the rent control policy before it is due to expire at the end of the year.
RPZs were introduced in Ireland in late 2016 to cap rent increases in areas where there is high demand for housing and for rental homes.
Where an area has been designated a RPZ, rent increases cannot be greater than the rate of inflation or 2 per cent, whichever is lower.
A review of the current RPZ system is being carried out by the Housing Agency and is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year.
One of the alternative options being considered is a “reference rent” system which would see rent increases determined by a reference rent for local homes of a similar quality, rather than the 2 per cent cap currently in place under the RPZ system.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act, the RTB can investigate and sanction landlords for failure to comply with RPZ rules.
Until now, the RTB relied upon being notified of a RPZ breach, either through its investigations team or its dispute resolution process where tenants can lodge complaints.
In 2023, the RTB published 67 sanctions against landlords for breaches of RPZ requirements and €88,787 in overcharged rent was returned to tenants.
In the first three quarters of 2024, the RTB received 177 dispute applications where the reason given was a rent review that was not in line with RPZ rules.
However this new crackdown, which will see compliance addressed at a much larger scale, has been aided by a new data collection method used by the regulator.
In April 2022, the RTB changed the registration process for landlords, who now have to re-register their tenancies annually, even if the tenancy has not changed.
They must provide their name, address, a description of the property and the rent being charged.
This new data collection method has allowed the RTB to scale up its identification of tenancies where rent is being increased at a rate higher than what is allowed in RPZs.
While 16,000 of these types of tenancies have been identified, some of these may fall under exemptions to the rules.
Rent increases above 2 per cent are allowed in some cases such as where rent has not been increased for several years, or where a substantial change has been made to the accommodation.
