Annual registration is the requirement for landlords to register their tenancies every year on the anniversary of the date the tenancy began. Previously, tenancies were only required to be re-registered when all of the have tenants vacated and new tenants moved in, or every 6 years in a scenario where the same tenants remained for a long period.
Since 4 April 2022, all tenancy registrations, irrespective of if the previous registration is ongoing, will be due an annual registration on the next anniversary of the date that tenancy began.
Registration Fees
The cost to register tenancies is €40 per year for private rentals, cost rentals, and Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) rentals, with a late fee of €10 per month applied for each month that the registration is late.
If you are registering up to 10 tenancies in the same building at the same time, you can pay a combined fee of €170, once the tenancy registration application is completed on time.
No fee applies to the 2nd and subsequent registration in a 12 month period in respect of the same dwelling, providing they are received within one month of the tenancy commencement date of the new tenancy.
The fee for tenancies managed by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) is €20 per year.
Full details of registration fees can be found here:
Further Part 4 Tenancy
Prior to the introduction of Annual Registration tenancies that were registered with the RTB lasted for four years if their start date was before 24 December 2016 and for six years if their start date was on or after 24 December 2016. After the first six months the tenancy became known as a "Part 4" tenancy. If the tenancy was still in existence when it came to the end of this four-or six-year cycle then its registration was required to be renewed with the RTB and this renewed tenancy is known as a "Further Part 4" tenancy.
Further Part 4 Tenancy Fee Waiver
There area cohort of private tenancies with an original tenancy commencement date prior to 24 December 2016 who are eligible for a fee waiver, providing the Further Part 4 registration was registered in advance of the introduction of annual registration. This means that the tenancy must have been renewed before the introduction of annual registration on 4 April 2022.
Landlords in these scenarios will be exempt from having to pay an annual registration fee for the portion of the tenancy remaining in their ‘Part Four’ tenancy, i.e. if there are three years left on the ‘Further Part Four’ tenancy, then the landlord would be exempt from paying an annual registration fee for those three years. However, please note that even though these landlords will be exempt from paying yearly registration fees, they will still be required to register their tenancy annually.
For more information, please read the Government Guidance Document on Annual Registration in the Download section of this webpage.
A Guide for Completing Your Annual Registration
Annual Registration Scenarios
Example 1: New Tenancy
A tenancy commenced on 4 July 2023. The landlord must register the tenancy by 3 August 2023 (i.e., within one month of the beginning of the tenancy) to avoid incurring late fees. If the tenancy continues for the next 12 months, the landlord will be obliged to register the tenancy again on 4 July 2024, and no later than 3 August 2024 to avoid incurring late fees. The landlord must continue to register the tenancy by no later than 3 August every year for so long as the tenancy continues.
Each month that the tenancy remains unregistered incurs a €10 fine. For instance, if the above landlord did not renew his tenancy until 3 September 2023, they would be required to pay €50 to register their tenancy, instead of €40.
Example 2: Existing Tenancies
A tenancy commenced on 9 September 2018. The landlord must register the tenancy by 9 September 2022 and no later than 8 October 2022 (i.e. within one month of the anniversary of the tenancy beginning) to avoid incurring late fees. If the tenancy continues for the next 12 months, the landlord will be obliged to register the tenancy again by 9 September 2023, and no later than 8 October 2023 to avoid incurring late fees.
The landlord must continue to register the tenancy by no later than 08 October every year for so long as the tenancy continues.
Each month that the tenancy remains unregistered incurs a €10 fine. For instance, if the above landlord did not renew his tenancy until 9 October 2023, they would be required to pay €50 to register their tenancy, instead of €40.
Example 3: Temporary Fee Waiver
A tenancy commenced on 1 January 2016. On 1 January 2020 it became a ‘further Part 4’ tenancy with a potential duration of six years. The landlord registered the ‘further Part 4’ tenancy on 15 January 2020 and paid the required fee.
Annual registration began on 4 April 2022. The landlord must now register the tenancy again within a month of 1 January 2023 (i.e. within one month of the anniversary of the tenancy beginning). No fee is payable for this registration as long as the annual registration was completed on time.
If this tenancy continues, no registration fee will be owed until 1 January 2026, as long as each annual registration is completed on time (i.e. within one month of the anniversary of the tenancy beginning). This fee waiver will remain in place for the duration of the six-year cycle which began when the tenancy was renewed, in this instance on 15 January 2020.
- Standard Registration Fee - €40
Application received by the RTB within one month of the tenancy commencement date.
- Additional Late Fee - €10 for every month (part thereof) that registration is late
Application received by the RTB more than one month after the tenancy commencement date.
- Composite Registration Fee - €170
A reduced fee subject to a maximum of 10 tenancies in one building being registered by the same landlord at the same time and all received by the RTB within one month of the earliest tenancy commencement date.
- 2nd Registration or Subsequent in a 12 month period - No Fee
No fee applies to the 2nd and subsequent registration in a 12 month period in respect of the same dwelling, providing they are received within one month of the tenancy commencement date of the new tenancy.
- Standard Registration Fee - €20
Application received by the RTB within one month of the tenancy commencement date.
- Additional Late Fee - €5 for every month (or part thereof) that registration is late
Application received by the RTB more than one month after the tenancy commencement date.
- Composite Registration Fee - €85
A reduced fee subject to a maximum of 10 tenancies in one building being registered by the same landlord at the same time and all received by the RTB within one month of the earliest tenancy commencement date.
- 2nd Registration or Subsequent in a 12 month period - No Fee
No fee applies to the 2nd and subsequent registration in a 12 month period in respect of the same dwelling, providing they are received within one month of the tenancy commencement date of the new tenancy.
A Guide for Completing Your Annual Registration
Frequently Asked Questions
Annual registration starts on 4 April 2022.
Annual registration is the requirement for landlords to register their tenancies every year on the anniversary of the date the tenancy began. Previously, tenancies were only required to be re-registered if a tenancy continued into a ‘Further Part 4’ tenancy.
From 4 April 2022, your tenancy will be due an annual registration on the next anniversary of the date that tenancy began.
For example, if your tenancy started on 15 August 2018, it will be due for annual registration on 15 August 2022, and every year on 15 August after that for as long as the tenancy continues.
You can make your annual registration up to one calendar month after the due date, without incurring late fees.
In order to check the status of your tenancy, you must first have set up an account on our online portal, launched November 2021.
Go to the ‘Manage Registrations’ page of your RTB online account, and filter the Registration Status column to ‘Pending Registration’. You will then find the tenancies due to be registered.
If you do not see your tenancy on the Manage Registration page of your online account, you may need to link your existing tenancy.
Alternatively, please check your own records held for your tenancies. This will also assist the online process for linking existing tenancies.
If you have not already done so, visit the RTB’s online account system here to set up a new online account.
Find out more information about the RTB online accounts here.
You may need to link your existing tenancies to your online account. You can follow the instructions to do this once you have set up an account. You should do this in advance of your registration(s) being due, so that your tenancies are easily available for annual registration. This will help you avoid any issues that may cause your registration to be late.
set up a new online account.
Find out more
No. The fee structure has changed for the private rental sector and for the Approved Housing Body sector. The standard fee for private rental tenancy registration is €40 per registration and €20 for the AHB tenancy registration.
Information on registration fees
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If you are registering a private rental tenancy, an AHB social housing tenancy, or a cost rental tenancy, with a tenancy commencement date before 04 April 2022, the previous fee structure will apply as follows:
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€90 for a registration received within one month of the tenancy commencement date.
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€180 for private and cost rental tenancies if the tenancy is not registered within one month of the tenancy commencement date. This fee consists of the standard €90 registration fee, plus an additional €90 late fee. €20 per month late fee, in addition to the standard registration fee, for AHB social tenancies, for each calendar month they are late up to a maximum of €240.
Under legislative change, if a landlord needs to make a second new registration on the same dwelling in a 12-month period, there is no fee for this second tenancy registration, nor any subsequent registration in that 12-month period.
If the landlord is late registering a tenancy, the standard fee and any late fees will be applied. The online registration process will calculate any late fee payable.
Yes, certain applications to register a tenancy may qualify for a temporary registration fee waiver for a period of time.
There is a temporary registration fee waiver to those landlords who have registered a Further Part 4 tenancy prior to 4 April 2022.
Tenancies that have a duration longer than six months are called ‘Part Four’ tenancies. Up to now, when such a tenancy was due to expire, landlords could renew their tenancy registration and this renewed tenancy is known as a ‘Further Part Four’ tenancy.
Landlords in these scenarios will now be exempt from having to pay an annual registration fee for the portion of the tenancy remaining in their ‘Part Four’ tenancy.
For example, if there are three years left on the Further Part Four tenancy, then the landlord will be exempt from paying an annual registration fee for those three years.
Even though there is a fee waiver in place in these circumstances, landlords are still required to make the annual registration in accordance with regulations. If the registration is late, then the standard fee and any late fees will be applied.
This fee waiver will be automatically applied when you register a tenancy online where an
application meets the required criteria. If you are filling out a paper Tenancy Registration
Application (RTB1) Form, no payment is due where an application meets the required criteria.
If there are any changes to the existing tenancy, such as a change to rent, or a tenant, then you are legally required to update the tenancy details when they happen. You can do this online by editing the existing tenancy.
If a new tenancy is created, then it must be registered with the RTB within one calendar month of the date it begins. You must close the previous tenancy first before you register the new tenancy.
Yes, a letter will issue to all landlord/s and tenant/s listed on the tenancy, once the details of the annual registration have been confirmed, just as if you were registering a new tenancy.
The RTB’s new online tenancy registration system will generate reminder letters to landlords by post or email depending on your preference.
You can find out more information about the RTB online account system and how to do this here.
The requirements to register annually were legally introduced in May 2019 under the Residential Tenancies Act 2019.
The introduction of annual registration will:
- Enable the RTB to regulate the sector more effectively.
- Provide the RTB with more up to date information on rental amounts, tenancies, and the regulated rental sector, thus providing more accurate data to help inform rental policy development and implementation.
- Allow the RTB to publish more detailed report on rents and rent levels for new and existing tenancies
Related Downloads
Government Guidance on Annual Registrations
Annual Registration Guide for Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) Annual Registration Guide for Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs)
Annual Registration Information Guide
Information guide for online tenancy registration
RTB1 form RTB1 form Tenancy Registration Application Form
How to register a Tenancy (Irish)