Major changes are coming in the Irish rental market on March 1, 2026, which has led a Waterford Councillor to believe that homeless figures could double as a result.
“As we are all aware,” said Independent Councillor Blaise Hannigan at the January Plenary meeting, “the new legislation coming in the 1st of March for landlords will affect everyone in the City and County.
“Auctioneers are clearing saying that landlords are leaving the market meaning people will find it impossible to find private rental accommodation. The busiest department over the next 9 months will be homeless services.
“I’m just wondering what the measures the Council are going to put in place to support homeless services as I believe their figures over the next 9 months will double,” Cllr. Hannigan said.
In response, Director for Housing, Seamus De Faoite, said “the fear and the concern is I relation to property owners getting out of the property market. From the Local Authorities’ perspective, we have not seen a major increase in presentations to homeless services as of yet.
“At the moment the existing tenants have rights in relation to notice periods. A person who is in rental accommodation for 6 years or more is required to get over 6 months’ notice.
“We haven’t seen a major increase [in homelessness] as of yet. I’m not saying it’s not going to happen.
“We are working with the homelessness department and we had a meeting with the RTB itself, where the director of the RTB came down to meet us here a couple of weeks ago.
“We will continue to work with all stakeholders around it and see what the 1st of March brings.
According to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, every new tenancy will be subject to the Tenancies of Minimum Duration rules, which state that landlords must offer rolling 6 year tenancies. A rolling tenancy is one which a tenant has the option to renew.
Landlords can only break these tenancies in specified situations like the tenant fails to meet their obligations, or the property no longer suits the tenant’s needs.
Exceptions will be made for smaller landlords (with 3 or less tenancies) if they encounter financial hardship and have to sell the property, or if a close family member requires the property to become their personal residence.
At the completion of the 6 year tenancy, smaller landlords can end the tenancy under existing legal grounds, such as, if they wish to sell the property, live there themselves or provide the property to family, take the property out of residential use, or wish to complete major renovations.
Larger landlords, those with 4 or more tenancies will not be allowed to end the rolling tenancy for sale, renovation, occupation, or change of use. However, they can end the tenancy if tenants do not meet their obligations or the property no longer suits the needs of the tenant.
Tenants which are already in place before March 1 will not be subject to these measures.
Speaking when the measures were announced in June 2025, Minster for Housing James Browne said: "The government has today approved stronger protections and greater certainty for renters, while creating new measures, as part of a suite of work being undertaken to boost supply of new homes and retaining existing landlords in the market”.
“We are not building enough apartments to cope with demand. We know we need to build 50,000 homes per year. I’m determined to get there.
“We will be extending rent controls nationally to protect all tenants. This would simplify the operation of rent controls and ensure that all tenants are offered rent control protections.”
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
