Real estate agents across Ireland are warning of a potential wave of landlords leaving the market ahead of new tenancy rules due to take effect on March 1st 2026. 

The regulations will grant renters who sign agreements after that date six-year tenancies and restrict small landlords from selling properties with tenants in place.

Speaking on The Anton Savage Show, Sinn Féin TD and housing spokesperson Eoghan O’Brien addressed concerns over the potential impact on the market. 

O’Brien cautioned that warnings of mass exits often accompany new regulations. 

“Every time there's a new set of regulations being proposed by government, we hear from representative organisations there's going to be a stampede and then that stampede doesn't transpire,” he explained. 

He noted that the Residential Tenancy Board publishes data quarterly showing roughly four to five thousand notices of termination per quarter, most issued by single-property landlords.

The proposed legislation, currently at pre-legislative scrutiny stage, is “incredibly complex,” stated O’Brien. 

O’Brien highlighted that it will not affect existing tenancies, only those beginning on or after March 1st. 

“Any existing tenancy in place today that continues past March of next year is unaffected by any of the rent setting rules or the security of tenure rules,” he said.

On security of tenure, the legislation will create distinct rules for small landlords with three properties or fewer and for large landlords with four or more. 

Small landlords will not be able to issue eviction notices on grounds of sales during the six-year period but can still evict tenants for other reasons. 

“The grounds will just be more restricted than is currently the case,” O’Brien noted.

Reports in the Sunday Independent suggested that up to 90% of small landlords have issued termination notices out of concern for the new rules. 

“They clearly believe that they will be so restricted in the capacity to remove a tenant that they're doing it now rather than wait till post-March,” O’Brien said, adding that the new rules will also allow landlords to reset rent to full market rates at the start or end of a six-year tenancy.

He warned that these measures could increase the financial burden on renters at a time when rents are already at historic highs. “There’s also going to be, and this is the real problem with the legislation, very considerable increases in the rent burden for already hard-pressed renters at a time when rent's just through the roof,” O’Brien said.

Lack of suitable homes

O’Brien emphasised that the underlying issue is a shortage of appropriate housing. 

“At the heart of this, there are simply not enough houses being built for the people who want them, whether it be rent or to purchase,” he said. 

He argued that government plans underestimate demand for social and affordable housing by 30% to 50% and fail to focus on the right type of supply.

“Social housing, affordable rental and purchase provided by the state, and private purchase delivered in the main by small and medium-sized builder developers, that’s where our big deficits are,” O’Brien said. 

Without addressing these deficits, he warned, the housing crisis will persist, even if new private rental supply is introduced.

Ultimately, O’Brien concluded, the new legislation could create confusion for tenants and increase their financial pressures. 

“From March of next year, if the government gets its way, tens of thousands of renters are going to see their rent skyrocket even higher,” he said. 

“It will be very, very difficult to understand and enforce. Therefore, this isn't a good bill for renters.”

Written by Annemarie Roberts