More than €1.3 million has been spent by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in providing legal assistance to landlords and tenants seeking to have its orders enforced over a three-year period.
Despite RTB determination orders being legally binding, 1,315 applications for legal assistance have been made since 2022 by those seeking court orders.
Such determinations, which may direct overholding tenants to vacate or order landlords to return unlawfully retained deposits, are made following the RTB’s dispute process.
They can also include directions that damages be paid where significant breaches are found, such as an unlawful termination of tenancy.
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The 1,315 parties who sought assistance included 684 landlords and 574 tenants. A further 47 applications for legal assistance were made by Approved Housing Bodies, while 10 third parties, typically neighbours of tenants, also sought support.
The data provided by the RTB does not include figures for 2025, which are not yet available.
The Residential Tenancies Act allows the rental watchdog to make an application to enforce its own orders, “but it does not place a duty on the RTB to do so”, a spokesperson said.
The RTB said it provides legal assistance in “limited cases” to those seeking enforcement, including cases of unlawful tenancy terminations, overholding, rent arrears of over €3,000, and deposit retentions of over €1,000.
In total, 968 applications for legal assistance were approved by the RTB across 2022, 2023 and 2024.
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Noting that determination orders are “legally binding”, the RTB said: “Where a party does not comply, the District Court has the power to make an order directing the party concerned to comply with the terms of the determination order.”
Where individuals take their own enforcement proceedings, the RTB “supports this process through the provision of required documentation”, it said.
A total of €322,959 was spent on providing legal assistance in 328 cases in 2022. This rose to €487,344 for 292 cases in 2023.
In 2024, €508,040 was spent by the RTB on legal support in 348 cases.
The disputes relating to these can involve multiple issues, though rent arrears, overholding or a combination of both were the most common reasons for seeking legal assistance and court enforcement (754).
This was followed by deposit retention (202), breach of landlord obligations (176), and unlawful termination of tenancy (92).
Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this month, Mary Conway, chair of the Irish Property Owners Association, argued that a determination order was “not worth the paper it is written on”.
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She was reacting to the case of Eoghan O’Mahony, a Cork landlord who has been attempting to gain possession of his property in Carlow town since 2024 after his tenant stopped paying rent.
O’Mahony received legal assistance from the RTB to pursue court enforcement after his tenant failed to comply with a determination order in December 2024 ordering them to leave within 28 days.
