What fees are payable by tenant?

There is no way you should be paying either the property tax or the RTB charges.

He can't evict you if you refuse to pay.

Don't pay it, and make a complaint to the RTB outlining his demands that you pay his costs.

Unless it was included in the lease/tenancy agreement. It's not something a landlord can just decide to charge after a tenancy has started.

The landlord is liable to pay the LPT to Revenue and the registration fee to the RTB but some are passing those costs on. I have seen leases with all kinds of charges included. Admin fees for unpaid s/o's or where rent is paid late. Fees for an extra set of keys or a replacement set. Fees for regular garden maintenance. Fees for deep clean at the end of the tenancy. Only rent increases and deposit amounts are restricted.

Some people really don't have a clue of the basics of being a landlord.

It's not a rent increase though, it's a direct cost that the landlord is passing on. If it isn't a term included in the lease agreement, then the landlord can't re-charge it whether he gives one week or 90 days notice.

OP, you say that the extra demand was disguised as a rent increase but the landlord told you it was a re-charge for the LPT in January and this recent amount is a re-charge to cover the RTB costs so he doesn't see it as a rent increase.

You're lucky you're not being charged a quarterly fee for your pets, apparently that's happening now as well as fees for parking spaces. I saw a lease a few weeks ago that had re-charges for insurance and an apartment lease where tenants are being re-charged for service charges. It's vicious.

OP you need to read the lease / tenancy agreement you signed and if there is no term to cover these re-charges then you can query them or refuse to pay them.

The RTB have changed to annual €40 registration, even if the tenants haven't changed.

https://www.rtb.ie/news/landlords-take-notetenancies-must-now-be-registered-annually-with-the-rtb

ABSOLUTELY NO WAY PAY THE EXTRA MONEY.

Contact PRTB straight away.

How long are ye tenants in the house?

You can only have rent review for an increase every 2 years.

Then the increase will depend if ye in a Rent Property Zone or not.

In fairness the Tenant should know about this stuff also.

I suspect the Landlord knows exactly what they are doing.

Open to correction but I think it was the PRTB from 2004 to 2015, 14yrs. So its been RTB for 7yrs. I still call it the PRTB.

I don't think it makes any difference. It will be found, and be obvious either way.

RTB has been mentioned around 30 times on this thread already.

https://www.google.com/search?q=PRTB&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBIE968IE968&oq=PRTB&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j46i10i175i199i512j0i10i131i433j0i512l2j0i10j0i512l2.1328j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

It's absolute BS. What landlords are getting away with in this country is scandalous.

But you're over a barell here. Ive been looking for 2 years for somewhere to rent that will take pets. No one will any more. My dog is quiet and housetrained, 10 years old and just lays about unless there's a walkie or ball game going. But they just don't want to know

I would still open a dispute though. The 40 quid i could stomach for the tradeoff of having pets allowed but no way am i paying the property tax on a property I don't own. You're already paying for them to be able to own it.

There are still landlords who think the rules don't apply to them and think they can do what they like, especially when so few rentals are available.

Check that the tenancy is registered with RTB.

I've read many times on boards that a written lease is a waste of time but imo its crazy not to have the rental contract in writing because it protects both parties, similar to an employment contract. Employers can't put anything illegal in a contract but they can have specific terms that apply to their company that an employee can agree to or not, before they take the job. When the employment contract is signed, both are bound by it plus all employment legislation.

Same thing with a lease which is the contract to rent the accommodation, it has all the terms spelled out. If the tenant signs it, thats the agreement. The lease plus all rental legislation is binding on both parties.

The problem is that in both employment and rental situations there is so much legislation that it's mind boggling for both sides and mistakes happen all the time, that's what the RTB are supposed to mediate on, the same role as the WRC for employment disputes.

There's also shyster landlords and chancy tenants, the same way there are dodgy employers and waster workers. Always some who try to play the system so its sensible to protect your own interests.

The days of moving into a rental with just a handshake are gone.

Rented dwellings are supposed to be insured and it is a breach of landlord obligations not to be insured. It is generally a matter for the local authority to ensure compliance with the regulations but the RTB can also get in on the act.

The landlord is supposed to have building insurance.

Residential tenancies Act

12.—(1) In addition to the obligations arising by or under any other enactment, a landlord of a dwelling shall—

(c) subject to subsection (3), effect and maintain a policy of insurance in respect of the structure of the dwelling, that is to say a policy— (i) that insures the landlord against damage to, and loss and destruction of, the dwelling, and (ii) that indemnifies, to an amount of at least €250,000, the landlord against any liability on his or her part arising out of the ownership, possession and use of the dwelling

The landlord has to fix the hot water and fridge/freezer. Agree with tvjunki, you should put it in writing. Also, if you ring Threshold, they'll advise you if your landlord can pass on other costs - if you don't have a written lease your landlord could say you agreed to it before you rented the place and he just didnt charge you before now, there's some dodgy landlords around.

This kind of thing seems to be happening a lot now, I saw several leases with a list of things that could be recharged to tenants, eg landlords insurance, rtb fees, block service charges, utilities, garden maintenance, boiler service, repair tenant damage, replacement locks & keys, parking space, admin fees, legal fees for multi occupant change, pet charges etc. so your landlord is not the only one passing on costs. Rent in some of those leases was for the housing including white goods and floor/window coverings only, anything else was extra. They were signed by tenants before they moved in though.

It looks like unlimited residential tenancies will be similar to a commercial lease, the tenant rents the unit and pays for everything else - a 'ryanair' rental market 😂😂.

Contact Threshold, they can take an RTB case and represent you, the Statute of Limitation can go back 6 years for invalid rent reviews

Amendment of section 19 of Act of 2004

6. Section 19 of the Act of 2004 is amended—

(a) in subsection (4), by the substitution of “Subject to subsections (4A) and (5)” for “Subject to subsection (5)”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (4):

“(4A) Notwithstanding subsection (4), and subject to subsection (5), in setting the rent under a tenancy of a dwelling in a rent pressure zone in respect of which the landlord serves a notice under section 22 on or after the coming into operation of section 6 of the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021—

(a) an amount of rent shall not be provided for that increases the rent last set by more than any rent increase calculated in accordance with subsection (4B), or

(b) an amount of rent shall not be provided for that increases the rent last set where a calculation is made, in accordance with subsection (4B), that no increase in the rent last set has occurred.

(4B) Any increase in the rent last set shall be calculated by—

(a) calculating as a percentage any difference between the HICP value that applied on the date the rent was last set and the HICP value that applies on the new date, and

(b) applying the amount of the percentage calculated under paragraph (a) to the rent last set.

(4C) The Board shall—

(a) establish and maintain a rent pressure zone calculator to calculate any increase in rent in a rent pressure zone in accordance with the method set out in subsection (4B), and

(b) publish and keep up to date a table of HICP values published by the Central Statistics Office.

(4D) The Minister, for the purposes of subsections (4A) to (4C), may prescribe—

(a) the means by which the rent pressure zone calculator referred to in subsection (4C)(a) shall operate to accurately calculate any increase in rent in a rent pressure zone by applying the HICP values to the rent,

(b) the information to be furnished in the table referred to in subsection (4C)(b),

(c) the form and manner of publication by the Board of that calculator and table, and

(d) an index or indices, containing data corresponding to HICP values, as may be published by the Central Statistics Office to be used for the purposes of the calculation under subsection (4B).”,

(c) in subsection (5), by the substitution of “Subsections (4) and (4A) do not apply—” for “Subsection (4) does not apply—”,

(d) in subsection (6), by the substitution of “subsections (3), (4) and (4A)” for “subsections (3) and (4)”,

(e) in subsection (6A), by the substitution of “subsection (4) or, as the case may be, (4A)” for “subsection (4) ”,

(f) in subsection (7), by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘HICP values’ means the values contained in the most recent data available monthly in the All-Items Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices in relation to Ireland and published monthly by the Central Statistics Office in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/7921 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on harmonised indices of consumer prices and the house price index, and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 2494/95;

‘new date’ shall be the date of publication by the Board under subsection (4C) of the table of HICP values that occurs most recently prior to the service of a notice under section 22 by the landlord on the tenant;”.