This week, figures from Ireland's Residential Tenancies Board showed a 41% surge in eviction notices issued by landlords in the last three months of 2025.
This increase won't come as a surprise to Cabinet members because many received correspondence from property owners before controversial rental legislation was enacted, warning they would evict tenants and sell up.
Thirty-two TDs, one MEP and one Senator wrote to Minister for Housing James Browne, forwarding letters and emails, mainly from landlords between 1 September 2025 and 3 February this year, according to records released under Freedom of Information to RTÉ News.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeil and Minister for Education Hildegard Naughton were among those who wrote to the Minister for Housing.
The vast majority forwarded correspondence from landlords who expressed concerns or were furious about the new legislation. Two of the submissions related to tenants.
Many of the landlords warned that, due to personal circumstances, they felt they would have to evict tenants because of the new rules.
A key concern for many was that leases agreed with new tenants after 1 March of this year will have run for at least six years - many landlords said was too restrictive. This measure was introduced to increase security of tenure for renters.
"I will have no option but to serve notice on my tenants and dispose of my properties. I am not alone in that thinking," an email forwarded by Minister Chambers said.
A couple in their 70s told Fine Gael TD Maeve O’Connell: "We will have no choice but to terminate our valuable tenants and exit the market.
"The six years would be too much of a gamble for us because if either of us became unwell and needed funds then we would be very stuck and then add to that all the worry and anxiety, it would be just too much for us."
Boyd's Estate Office in Kilkenny wrote to the Taoiseach and said: "40% of our landlords are actively discussing selling up. This is not a slow decline - it is an unprecedented rush for the exits."
According to the Boyd's email, one property owner said that "being called a landlord is nearly as bad as being called a paedophile".
Another email to the Taoiseach from a landlord in their 60s said: "I now have, after all my years, no option but to terminate my tenancies and sell, as many of my colleagues are doing."
Another landlord, who rented their only property, emailed the Taoiseach: "As a sole homeowner with no other property, I face a unique vulnerability: if I cannot recover my home after a one-year lease, I risk homelessness.
"This classification is unfair and overlooks my right to temporarily rent my primary residence without losing access," he added.
The Taoiseach's constituency office wrote a note the Minister for Housing with one of the forwarded emails and said: "The Taoiseach has asked if the points raised could be examined and if he could please be advised of the outcome."
An email forwarded by Minister of State Robert Troy said the "rights and autonomy of landlords are being chipped away to the point where it feels like private property ownership is being criminalised by stealth".
Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton sent an email from a tenant who said: "I am writing to you as a long-term tenant in Galway City who has just received an eviction notice after seven years in my home.
"This eviction appears to have been triggered by the new rental laws targeting large landlords that are due to come into effect in March 2026," the tenant said.
"After nearly two decades living and working in Galway, I am now facing the prospect of having to leave the city entirely. Finding a new place to live has become nearly impossible. Rents are extortionate, supply is almost non-existent, and as a pet owner, my options are even more limited," the tenant added.
Minister of State Michael Moynihan sent Minister Browne an email from a "lifelong Fianna Fáil supporter".
The landlord said the new rental rules were "not Fianna Fáil policy as I recognise it. We are seriously considering selling all but three of our properties now in advance of March so that we are not snookered by the new legislation."
A constituent wrote to Minister for Children Norma Foley saying Ireland was "starting to look like a Soviet Union dictatorship style approach to the ownership of private property. You now seek to control as to how and under which conditions citizens can freely dispose of their own property."
The emailed finished with: "You will have one less 'landlord' to beat in public."
An 80-year-old widow who wrote to Minister Chambers said: "Freezing or devaluing the assets of elderly landlords like myself is deeply unfair and financially devastating."
The new legislation says that property owners who have four or more properties will fall into large landlord category which means they will face tighter restrictions on serving eviction notices.
One constituent wrote to Fianna Fáil TD Shay Brennan and said: "I have four properties and effectively have been told that I can never sell them to a family member or with vacant possession. I, like many others, are now looking at selling up, so don't see how that will help the rental market".
"The 'large' landlord limitations on selling needs to be reviewed to make it more reasonable for the smaller landlord to stay in the market which is ultimately what you are trying to achieve," the constituent added.
Clearly, landlords' warnings about quitting the property market were not empty threats, judging by that huge increase in notices-to-quit.
