From today, all landlords must register each tenancy with the Residential Tenancies Board every year.
New legislation commencing today, states that this must be completed within one month of the anniversary of when the tenancy began.
Landlords of private rented accommodation, social housing provided by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and landlords of Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) have always been required to register their tenancies with the RTB within one month of a tenancy starting.
Previously, tenancies were only required to be re-registered if a tenancy continued into a 'Further Part 4' tenancy.
With the introduction of annual registration, the RTB’s online registration system will notify landlords in advance of the yearly anniversary of when the tenancy started, to ensure they register on time and, thereby, avoid late fees.
The RTB said it is important to note that reminder notices will be issued to the existing correspondence details held and landlords must ensure that they keep their details up to date with the RTB.
The cost to register tenancies will be €40 per year for private rentals, cost rentals and Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) rentals.
The yearly fee for tenancies managed by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) will be €20 per year.
There will be a fee waiver for those landlords who currently have a ‘Further Part 4’ tenancy in place.
To assist landlords in this changeover to annual registration, the RTB said there will be a four-month transition period for tenancies which have renewal anniversaries between 4 April and 3 July 2022.
It said this transition period ends on 3 August 2022.The RTB pointed out that this new law also introduces a new "late fee" structure.
This means that as from 4 August 2022, late fees will accumulate for every month that a landlord is late in registering a tenancy.
Once the four-month transition period expires, landlords who do not register annually will incur late fees of €10 for every month the registration fee is late (for private, cost rental and SSA rentals) and €5 per month for AHB tenancies.
If late fees are not paid, landlords could incur a fine of €4,000 and/or civil sanctions of up to €15,000 plus costs of up to €15,000.
According to the RTB, the introduction of annual registration will enable them to regulate the sector more effectively.
"This is an important and necessary change to the law which enables the RTB to collect more timely and accurate data on the residential rental sector,"said Niall Byrne, Director of the RTB.
"This data will strengthen the ability of the RTB to fulfil its statutory and regulatory functions in a more responsive and effective manner.
The data insights and information will also help inform the development of rental sector policy,"he added.
Mr Byrne said he would encourage landlords to create an account on their new online tenancy registration scheme, if they haven't done so already.
"To support landlords to comply with the changes to registration, the RTB has developed a range of useful information resources and online material, such as new webpages and Frequently-Asked-Questions. Information sessions will also be taking place as a further support to landlords," he added.
