Tenant evictions surge 17% as landlords sell up, RTB report shows

The RTB also pointed out that 2,698 — or 57.3% — of eviction notices were handed down because the landlord wanted to sell the property. File picture: Alamy

The number of tenants being kicked out of their homes by landlords has surged in the last year.

The latest report from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) also shows that those taking up a new tenancy are paying an average of €244 more per month than those with existing tenancies.

The RTB, the country’s rental regulator, said 4,728 termination notices were given to tenants in the three months to June. That is 17.2% more than in the same period last year.

It also pointed out that some 2,698 — or 57.3% — of those notices were handed down because the landlord wanted to sell the property.

The RTB’s latest quarterly update also highlights the continued growth of corporate landlords — those with more than 100 tenancies each — to almost 14% of the market as smaller landlords withdraw.

On a more positive note, the number of approved housing body tenancies — those which are not for profit with heightened security of tenure and more affordable rents — has jumped by 11.7% in the last year and was at almost 53,000 at the end of June.

The latest figures from the RTB also reveal a spike in rent costs outside the capital, mainly in rural counties.

Eight counties — Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Kildare, Laois, Roscommon, Monaghan, and Donegal — saw growth in new rental prices of more than 10% in just one year, a trend which RTB director Rosemary Steen described as a “significant concern”.

Five of those counties —Donegal, Kerry, Laois, Monaghan, and Tipperary — have seen high new-tenancy rent increases for the last eight consecutive quarters, which the RTB said it hopes to mitigate by hosting “further education activities” in those areas.

By contrast, new tenancies in Dublin were just 3.3% higher than they were a year ago, its lowest increase since mid-2022.

Nationwide, the average rental rate for a new tenancy was €1,696 according to the latest figures, compared with €1,452 for existing rentals.

The statistics suggest an element of harmonisation across the country in terms of rental costs.

A number of the counties and areas that are now seeing significant increases are those which had previously shown lower rents in comparison with the rest of the country.

Many of them previously had not been part of a rent pressure zone, before the entire country was designated as such last June.

The designation means rents can only be raised by a maximum of 2% per annum.

Rachel Slaymaker, research officer with the Economic and Social Research Institute, confirmed that when the data was compiled, the eight counties which experienced increases of more than 10% were mostly excluded from rent pressure zone legislation.

She said it is unlikely that the upwards trend in those eight counties will level off for the next quarterly update, but that such a slowdown is possible in the following quarter.

Ms Steen said it is important to educate landlords in the counties showing large increases so they “understand their obligations” and should not have to be forced to comply by the RTB.

It’s a national requirement, and we intend overseeing that extremely diligently.

She noted that the RTB returned over €100,000 in rent pressure zone overpayments to 203 tenants in the first six months of 2025, and that such rulings are made retrospectively, meaning there is no time limit to a plausible claim.

Ms Steen said educational action on the part of the RTB has had an effect in other areas which have shown marked increases in rental costs.

“Last quarter we spoke about [sharp rental rises in] Galway, and it’s starting to stabilise now at 6%. That is important,” she said.