683. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the enforcement mechanisms available to the RTB to identify, investigate and prosecute landlords who fail to register tenancies; to address the reported discrepancy between CSO estimates of private rentals and the number of tenancies registered with the RTB; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64516/26]

The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2026 (RTA) regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the rented residential sector and set out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the RTA, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants.

Since July 2019, the RTB is empowered under Part 7A of the RTA – Complaints, Investigations and Sanctions – to investigate improper conduct by landlords (including contravention of the requirement to register, and keep up-to-date, tenancy details with the RTB) and to impose a sanction, where appropriate. The sanction may include any, or all, of the following: a formal written caution; a financial penalty of up to €15,000; and/or direction to pay RTB investigation costs of up to €15,000.

From 14 September 2026, on foot of amendment via the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, the RTA empowers the RTB to issue 28 day ‘fixed payment notices’ for certain offences, including relating to non registration of tenancies, to provide the opportunity to the offender to avoid prosecution and to speed up compliance with the RTA. Provision is also made to increase the penalties that apply to offences under the RTA and to empower the RTB to increase registration fees, including late fees, in line with inflation.

Section 134 of the RTA sets out the obligation for landlords to register any new tenancy with the RTB on the commencement of the tenancy and annually thereafter, for the duration of the tenancy. Monthly late fees apply while registration is outstanding.

Section 144 of RTA empowers the RTB to issue a fixed payment notice of €100 where it believes there is non compliance with registration requirements and their earlier enforcement notices. Payment within 28 days and complying with the registration requirements is only way to avoid further enforcement by the RTB.

The amendment to section 145 of RTA, under section 56 of the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, will be commenced as soon as possible. It will empower the RTB (with consent or on warrant from the District Court) to enter into and inspect a premises, including a private dwelling, for the purposes of: ascertaining details of a rented dwelling; the registration requirements; the particulars to be specified in any registration application; or the correctness of any particular specified in such application.

My Department understands that there were differences between the RTB’s registration data and the figures published by the CSO from the 2022 Census. Following extensive engagement between the RTB and the CSO, an in-depth analysis and data-matching exercise were conducted, resulting in the publication on 29 July 2024 of the CSO research paper Rented from Private Landlords 2022 - Central Statistics Office: www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/rp/rp-rfpl/rentedfromprivatelandlords2022/.

The CSO findings were that of 73,002 tenancies not registered with the RTB, a potential 25,248 tenancies were identified as possible formal rental arrangements which may require registration with the RTB. The remaining 47,754 were deemed to be informal arrangements, which may not fall within the scope of the RTA nor the remit of the RTB. Informal arrangements may include arrangements between family members, arrangements falling under the rent-a-room-scheme, digs-type accommodation commonly availed of by students, etc.

The most recent data, published by the RTB on 3 September 2026, shows that on a national level, registered private tenancies rose by 2.7% annually to 247,258 in Q2 2026, with 13,019 new tenancies having commenced in Q1 2026.