March 2026 changes causing concern

“From March 2026, Ireland’s rental sector enters a new phase."

On the 1st of March next year, a series of changes in legislation is due to come into force in Ireland.

While the broad detail of the changes has been in the public domain for several months, the wording will be fine-tuned before becoming law.

Amongst the main points will be that of defining ‘small’ and ‘large’ landlords; if you have three properties or under, you’re a small landlord, anything over that and you’re a large landlord.

Large landlords won’t be able to enact ‘no-fault’ evictions. They will be tied to rolling six-year leases, but if the tenant leaves, it seems that they can adjust the rent to market value. 

Smaller landlords will be able to carry out no-fault evictions, but only in certain circumstances, which include needing to sell due to financial hardship and the tenant being in breach of their obligations.

“The anxiety about what’s coming in March next year is causing some knee-jerk reactions in the marketplace,” says Pauline O’Sullivan of Prime Lettings. 

“One critical detail that people aren’t realising is that current tenancies are not affected by the legislation, and most landlords don’t seem to realise this, especially the smaller landlords and the accidental landlords.

“I attended a Zoom meeting with a number of the people who had written the legislation and senior members of the IPAV, and it was clear that the legislation can only govern new tenancies from March onward, but it really cannot change current tenancies.”

"We’ve seen a lot of uncertainty,” says Kelly Mellerick of ERA Downey McCarthy, referring to the proposed legislative changes. 

“None of us are really sure of how things are going to go. We’ve been given the general gist of what’s going to be coming in with this legislation, but how it’s going to be implemented and how it’s going to work, nobody’s really sure. It’s a growing concern for landlords in today’s market as to what the next step is for their properties.” 

“For any signed lease that we have today, the current legislation will carry over past the 1st of March, so the new legislation will only affect those leases that are signed after the 1st of March 2026.” 

There is also some confusion about the fine detail between a small and large landlord: do you become a large landlord by having four flats in one building, or do you become a large landlord when you have four separate properties?

“From March 2026, Ireland’s rental sector enters a new phase,” says Róisín Murray, principal of Sherry Fitzgerald Lettings. 

“The government has announced that new leases will move to a six-year security of tenure model, bringing greater certainty for both landlords and tenants.

“While some headlines have focused on the challenges this may pose, there are also clear positives for landlords who plan and put strong management in place. For new tenancies starting after March 2026, tenants will enjoy a six-year term of security. That means fewer interruptions, fewer early lease turnovers, and a framework designed to stabilise the rental market.” 

For landlords, Róisín adds, it’s worth taking time to consider what this really delivers. From next March onwards (if the new regulation follows as expected), there will be better predictability and income security for landlords, the rents will be reset at market value, and the smaller landlords will benefit from slightly different treatment.

And, she points out, flexibility remains: “Landlords retain the ability to sell their property with tenants in situ, thus safeguarding liquidity.” 

“Equally important is the long-term ability to reset rents. Unlike older restrictions that could leave landlords permanently behind the market, the new legislation ensures rents can catch up at the start of each new term.” 

“It’s all we’re getting on the phone lines and when we’re meeting in person,” says Orla O’Donovan, manager at Trading Places in Cork. 

“Clients want to know what is happening in March and how it’s going to affect them. With all this talk of new policies coming in and how they’re going to affect them down the line, people are confused, and there’s a lot of speculation there as well.

“One of the big questions for me is what kind of market are we going to have next year anyway? The supply and demand problem is still there, but now, with these new proposals, what will happen?” 

“I think that 2% (annual increase) is okay from the tenant’s point of view,” says Pauline O’Brien of Prime Lettings. 

“People can budget for that figure and, a lot of the time, it’s less than 2% because inflation rates will often be less than that. The Rent Pressure calculator is very precise, and it has to be followed. A lot of the time, it’s coming in under 2%.

“What will change in March is that if a tenant vacates a property of their own accord, a landlord will be entitled to go to market rent, so the cap will really only be in place for ongoing tenancies year-on-year, as opposed to new tenants.

“So I think that, come March 2026 and into 2027, you’re going to see an average increase in rental values again, but it should level out after that. It should all start to level out and make sense from 2028 onwards.” 

The changes coming next year are mostly defined, and they will bring some positive changes for landlords. 

However, in its current form, the legislation seems more weighted towards the benefit of larger landlords than smaller ones.

Landlords are still exiting the market 

All this uncertainty doesn’t help in reassuring an already weary landlord market, and many are still pulling out of the rental business rather than face the prospect of having their properties outside of their control.

“It’s a bit like that story of comparing the letting of a house to that of letting your neighbour borrow your hose for watering their garden,” says Mark Rose of Rose Properties in Cork City.

“A neighbour comes to you and says, ‘Can I use your hose to water my front garden?’ You answer, ‘Absolutely. Work away.’ But if your neighbour comes and asks you to sign away a 4m2 patch of your front garden to them, that’s a very different story, and that’s what rent controls are like. Rent controls that limit the rental potential of your property, which then limit the value of your property.

“My clients would be fine with lower rents, but it’s the situation where someone comes along and tells them that that rent is locked in for a period of time going forward, that’s when landlords feel like getting out of it altogether.” 

“There are reports nationally of landlords exiting the market,” says Cormac Aherne of Choices Property Management in Cork. 

“From our point of view, we would see that phenomenon on a small scale only, because most of our clients would be larger landlords and lots of those are staying in the market.” 

Those that are exiting the market, he notes, are the ones who have a small property portfolio – the so-called ‘mom-and-pop’ operators.

“From what I’m hearing, it seems to me that landlords in smaller towns and rural locations are exiting the market more than those in bigger urban areas and cities.” 

“We don’t do sales, but I know from talking to people that a lot of landlords are selling up,” says Orla O’Donovan of Trading Places. 

“We’ve seen some of our clients sell up too. Some of them are just holding tough and hoping that it won’t be as bad as many seem to think it will.”