Tenant rights under Ireland’s Residential Tenancies Acts 2004–2025

Abstract

In recent years a number of jurisdictions have sought to reform their landlord and tenant laws to provide enhanced protections for tenants. Ireland was one such jurisdiction, and it commenced its reforms relatively early, beginning in 2004. Since then, Ireland’s reforms have been both praised and echoed in other jurisdictions. Yet, Ireland’s Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2025 are not so highly praised within Ireland itself. In this article, I offer a critical re-reading of these Acts and their efforts to rebalance the landlord–tenant relationship in Ireland. While it is true that the Acts appear to grant many rights to tenants, they fail to ensure that these rights are adequately enforced or respected and they also fail to provide suitable punishment for those landlords who do not abide by the rules. I argue that there is scope to reform the Residential Tenancies Acts in a way which would both respect tenants’ housing rights and landlords’ property rights.