Guide to Tribunals

To appeal the outcome of a mediation or adjudication case, an appeal application must be submitted to the RTB via post or email (tribunals@rtb.ie)) and must be received on time.  

Form to refer a Mediation to Tribunal can be found here 

Cliceáil anseo le haghaidh Iarratas chun Idirghabháil a tharchur chuig Binse 

Form to appeal an Adjudication to Tribunal can be found here 

Cliceáil anseo le haghaidh Iarratas chun Achomharc a dhéanamh ar Chinneadh ó Bhreithniú 

An application must be made within the correct time period: 

• Mediation – The applicant and/or respondent may apply to a Tenancy Tribunal within 10 calendar days (this includes Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays) “cooling off” appeal referral period from the date an Agreement was reached or from the date the mediation ceases. If both the applicant and respondent apply for a Tenancy Tribunal, one hearing will be scheduled to deal with both referral applications. 
   
  The fee is €30 to refer a mediation outcome to a Tribunal. 
   

• Adjudication - The applicant and/or respondent may appeal to a Tenancy Tribunal within 10 working days of receipt of the Adjudication Report. If both the applicant and respondent appeal the Adjudication outcome, one Tenancy Tribunal will be scheduled to deal with both appeal applications. 

The fee is €85 to appeal an adjudicators decision.  

The completed form, along with the fee, should be sent by post to the Residential Tenancies Board, PO Box 47, Clonakilty, County Cork or by email to tribunals@rtb.ie. 

It will be processed by the RTB, and you will receive confirmation if it has been accepted or rejected. 

The RTB do not review the details of the application, these details are intended for the Tribunal panel members.  

Once the application is received on time and with the correct fee, a tribunal hearing will be scheduled, and all parties will be informed of the date and time.  

Where the original dispute was an adjudication, the Adjudicators Determination Order will issue to all parties. 

Where the original dispute was a mediation and an agreement was reached, the Determination Order containing the agreement will issue. 

Where the original dispute was a mediation and no agreement was reached, or one or more parties withdrew from the agreement, the case will be closed.  

The application will be assigned to three Tribunal Members appointed by the RTB, one of which will act as the Chairperson of the Tribunal. The Tribunal Members, who are members of the Dispute Resolution Committee, will hear the dispute and make a decision based on the evidence before it.  

 Tribunal hearings are not formal and you may bring a non legal representative, family or friend to the hearing, as well as a solicitor or other professional. 

If an appeal is made to a Tenancy Tribunal, please note the appellant will be required to attend or arrange to be represented at the Tribunal. If the appellant does not attend the hearing, without giving any justifiable reason, or does not request the hearing to proceed in their absence, the Tribunal will assume that the appeal has been abandoned. The RTB will then make a determination order based on the adjudicator’s decision or mediation agreement, if any. If a respondent party has lodged their own appeal, then their case will proceed. 

The RTB now replaces the courts in a majority of cases in relation to landlord and tenant disputes. The RTB was set up to deal with disputes on an informal basis and is intended to minimise expense in the resolution of landlord and tenant disputes. Therefore, legal representation, should not be necessary but parties are free to arrange for representation, if they so wish. 

If a party intends to have legal representation at a Tribunal hearing before the RTB, notification of this should be given to the RTB within 7 days of the notification of the hearing date. Costs of legal or other professional representation before the RTB will only be awarded in exceptional circumstances and with the consent of the Board of the RTB. 

Due to the large volume of cases coming before the RTB, it is expected that, after lodging a valid appeal, the average timeframe after which your case is likely to be scheduled is within one to two months following the granting of the appeal. Therefore, if there is a genuine issue with availability for any given period of time, please tell us as soon as the appeal has been granted in order for avoid the need for rescheduling.  

All parties to a dispute, will be notified at least 21 days prior to the date on which the Tribunal hearing is due to be held. A Notice of Tenancy Tribunal Hearing will be issued and will include the date, time and purpose of the hearing.  

In certain circumstances parties may be given a shorter period of notice if:  

• One or more of the parties' requests a shorter period and the other party consent to this request.  

• The dispute concerns alleged behaviour by one of the parties that poses an imminent danger of death or serious injury or imminent danger to the fabric of the dwelling concerned or the property containing that dwelling.  

• Where one or more of the parties indicates that there is financial or other hardship.  

If parties wish to request a lesser period, they should send a submission in this regard. If you are considering sending such a submission, it would be in your best interest to do it as soon as possible. Even if parties don’t intend to appeal, it is still open to them to make such a submission based on the basis of an appeal being lodged.  

The hearings are held virtually via Microsoft Teams., The case officer will send you a link to join the hearing which you click at the allocated date and time. A guide can be found here.

The RTB has a right to schedule a face-to-face hearing and the hearings are held in the following centres: Dublin City (RTB HQ); Cork City; Galway City; Limerick City; Sligo Town; Athlone; and Wexford Town.  

The Tribunal hearing will be held at a venue within a reasonable distance from the location of the rented dwelling that is the subject of the dispute.  

Only in rare cases. If you cannot attend the hearing, you may nominate someone to attend in your place or you may submit a written statement to the tribunal for it to consider at the hearing in your absence. You will have to show written proof (for example, pre-booked airline tickets) to verify why you cannot attend on the scheduled date. The Tribunal panel make the decision to allow an adjournment of the hearing or not.  

 Yes. An appeal can be withdrawn by an appellant at any time prior to the Tribunal making a determination on the matter. If you wish to withdraw your Appeal prior to the hearing date you must write to the RTB stating your wish to do so. However, if the matter is being dealt with by the Tribunal at a hearing, you can tell the Tribunal that you are withdrawing the matter.  

Upon being notified of a withdrawal, the Tribunal is required to enquire whether the other party to the dispute objects to the withdrawal and, if so, the Tribunal will sit to decide on any application for costs of the other party against you. In the event that the other party, when notified of the withdrawal, does not object, a Determination Order will be made based on the dispute outcome and this will be binding on the parties to the dispute.  

An important factor in preparing a case for presentation to the Tribunal is to arrange the facts of the dispute in chronological order, and to make sure the information is presented in an understandable and straight-forward way. To assist the Tribunal, documentation and evidence submitted should be clearly categorised and a cover note setting out the contents should be attached. Documents should be sent in one single batch. 

These documents may consist of invoices, photographs, bank statements, the tenancy/lease agreement (s), Notice of Termination etc.  

All submissions of evidence relevant to the case will be copied over to the other party. Documents marked “without prejudice” will not be circulated. For more information on evidence, please click here.   

RTB will not be responsible for blacking out personal data within documents submitted as evidence. Please see attached Guide to Submitting Evidence. It is your responsibility to black out any personal information such as bank account details, personal telephone numbers and addresses.   

A copy of all evidence should be submitted to the RTB at least 5 days before the hearing.  

It is at the discretion of the Tribunal whether they will accept documentation submitted after the deadline.   

You can bring as many relevant witnesses as you wish with you to the Tribunal hearing. If you need to have a witness summoned to appear on your behalf, you must ask the RTB at least 10 days before the day of the hearing. The Tribunal panel will consider the request and, if it agrees, it will issue a subpoena (a summons or an order) ordering the witness to attend and give evidence at the hearing at a stated time. Witnesses have the same rights as if they were appearing before the High Court.  

At any stage of the dispute resolution process, parties to a tenancy dispute may come to an agreement. If an agreement is reached, the applicant must notify the RTB that they wish to withdraw the case.   

During a hearing, a Tribunal may adjourn (stop the hearing for a short time) to see if either party can reach an agreement between themselves. If parties do reach an agreement, the Tribunal may adopt it as the legally binding decision of the Tribunal. If an agreement cannot be reached between the two parties, the hearing will resume, and the Tribunal will decide the outcome.   

The Tribunal panel will submit a report and determination order. The report contains an overview of the hearing, the panels decision and the reasons for each decision made. The Determination Order is the legally binding document.  

The RTB review both documents and the Director must approve both documents before being issued to all parties. These usually takes 4 to 6 weeks following the hearing. 

Access to the Tribunal’s previous decisions and Determination Orders are available here. Parties should bear in mind that each case will be decided on the facts of the particular dispute, but earlier decisions may be useful as an aid to presenting their case.