September rental-rule changes: a practical landlord checklist

What changed on 14 September 2026

RTB copies of notices: within 7 days

A copy of a notice of termination must reach the RTB within 7 days of the date it is served on the tenant, and the same 7-day window applies to a notice of rent review. Miss the deadline and the notice is invalid: the tenancy continues, or the rent increase does not take effect. The duty arrived on 1 March 2026 as a same-day requirement, and the 7-day deadline replaces it from 14 September 2026.

The clock starts on the date of service, which is the date the tenant receives the notice, not the date you send it.

Mediation appeals: 10 working days

If a dispute goes to mediation, the window to appeal the mediated outcome to a Tribunal is now 10 working days from the agreement, up from 10 calendar days, and it matches the adjudication appeal window. Mediations completed after 14 September 2026 are on the new clock. The adjudication appeal (10 working days from the report) and the High Court window (21 days, on a point of law only) are unchanged.

Fixed payment notices are live

The RTB can issue fixed payment notices for six breaches. The payment window is 28 days, the figure is €200 for a rent breach and €100 for the others, and the initial campaigns target rent-setting and registration non-compliance. The power sits alongside the existing sanctions and enforcement routes, not instead of them.

How a notice may be served

Rent-setting and rent-review notices can be served by email, by post or by hand. A termination notice is different: it should not be sent by post, because the tenant must receive it on the date of service stated in the notice. The RTB recommends email, with hand-delivery as the alternative.

Public adjudication hearings

Dispute applications made from 14 September 2026 can be heard at public adjudication hearings. The RTB publishes a weekly schedule and full reports of the outcomes, including the names, the address, the evidence and the decision. Tribunal hearings were already public; mediation remains private.

Also in the package

• Rent-setting information given to a tenant at the start of a tenancy must also go to the RTB, within one month.
• Tribunal hearing notice: the RTB may give 10 working days, where it previously gave 21 calendar days.
• Tenancies of under six months: the longest notice a landlord may give rises from 90 to 120 days.
• Head-tenants: a sub-tenancy termination after the head-landlord's notice must be served within 90 days, up from 28 days.

What a landlord does now

The fortnight after a rule change is when old habits cause most slips. The checklist for the next notice you serve:

• Note the date of service for every notice. The 7-day window runs from the day your tenant receives it, so record that date, not the day you send it.
• File the copy with the RTB within 7 days. Termination notices and rent reviews both go through services.rtb.ie, and a missed copy invalidates the notice.
• Serve termination notices by email or by hand, not by post, so the date of service is the day the tenant receives it.
• Build the rent-review pack before you serve: at least 90 days' lead, the printout from the official RTB rent calculator, and three comparable rents from the RTB Rent Register.
• Give the rent-setting information to the RTB within one month of a tenancy starting, as well as to the tenant when they move in.
• Keep every registration current. The fixed payment notice campaigns start with rent-setting and registration non-compliance.
• If a dispute is in mediation, count the appeal window in working days and diary the deadline.

Where each step is covered

• Notice-periods guide: how much notice to give, and what makes a notice valid.
• Rent-increase notice guide: the review pack, the cap and the timing.
• RTB disputes guide: mediation, adjudication and the appeal windows.
• RTB registration guide: registering and renewing a tenancy.
• Tenancy agreement guide: the clauses to get right at the start.
• Part 4 tenancy guide: what the six-year cycle means for ending a tenancy.

What did not change

The September package is narrower than the March reform. These are unchanged:

• Notice periods. Landlord notice still runs from 90 days to 224 days depending on how long the tenancy has lasted, and the short 7-day and 28-day notices for fault grounds are unchanged.
• The 90-day lead time for a rent review. A notice still gives at least 90 days before the new rent takes effect.
• The rent cap. The national system that replaced the Rent Pressure Zones on 1 March 2026 is untouched, so a review increase is still limited to the lower of the statutory ceiling and CPI.
• The other appeal windows: adjudication appeals still run 10 working days from the report, and High Court appeals 21 days.

Work out your own ceiling with the rent-increase calculator, and the rent-increase guide sets out the timing and the pack.

The sector picture behind the rules

The RTB's September update reported termination notices down 42.9% in Q2 2026, and new-tenancy rents at €1,839 a month in Q1 2026 against €1,513 for existing tenancies. We have read the update line by line in our post on the RTB's September update.

Common questions

Do I still have to copy a notice to the RTB?

Yes. A copy of a notice of termination must reach the RTB within 7 days of the date it is served on the tenant, and a notice of rent review has the same 7-day window. A missed copy invalidates the notice.

When does the 7-day copy window start?

On the date of service, which is the date the tenant receives the notice, not the date it is sent. Serve termination notices by email or by hand rather than by post so the date is clear.

What is a fixed payment notice?

It is a notice the RTB can issue for one of six breaches, with a 28-day payment window. The figure is €200 for a rent breach and €100 for the others, and the initial campaigns target rent-setting and registration non-compliance.

Did the notice periods change on 14 September 2026?

No. Landlord notice periods still run from 90 days to 224 days depending on tenancy length, and the short 7-day and 28-day notices for fault grounds are unchanged. The September package changed deadlines and process, not the notice-period scales.

Sources

Every figure and date here is sourced and dated, and restated in our own words.

• RTB, Important changes to rental law from 14 September 2026
• Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 (No. 33 of 2026)
• Residential Tenancies Act 2004, consolidated (sections 22, 62 and 65)
• RTB, notice of termination guides
• RTB, how a landlord can end a tenancy

Rule changes checked against the RTB release of 31 August 2026 and the underlying legislation on 21 September 2026.