Tenant Advice
If you are having difficulties with your landlord please contact us for advice.
It is important for all students looking for accommodation to be aware of their rights and responsibilities as tenants. Below you will find some key facts you should be aware of when renting for the first time. Please note that these points do not apply to owner occupier rentals.
Key points
- You and your neighbours are entitled to quiet and exclusive enjoyment of your homes. If noise from other tenants or neighbours is disturbing you, ask them to stop and also inform your landlord. If this does not work, you can make a formal complaint through UCC Campus Watch if they are students.
- You are entitled to certain minimum standards of accommodation.
- Once your rent has been set, your landlord cannot increase it for one year.
- You are entitled to a rent book and receipts of payment.
- You have the right to contact the landlord or their agent at any reasonable times. You are also entitled to have appropriate contact information (telephone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, etc.).
- Your landlord is only allowed to enter your home with your permission. If the landlord needs to carry out repairs or inspect the premises, it should be by prior arrangement, except in an emergency.
- You are entitled to reimbursement for any repairs that you carry out that are the landlord's responsibility.
- You are entitled to have visitors to stay overnight or for short periods, unless specifically forbidden in your tenancy agreement. You must tell your landlord if you have an extra person moving in to the property.
- Both you and your landlord are entitled to a certain amount of notice should either party decide to end the tenancy. Notice periods can be found below.
- You are entitled to refer any disputes to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) without being penalised for doing so.
- Landlords are obliged to register all tenancies with the RTB. You will be notified by the RTB via post once this has been done.
- All homes for rent must have a Building Energy Rating (BER), stating how energy-efficient the home is. This will help you to make an informed choice when comparing properties to rent.
You can get further information on your tenant rights using the following resources.
Ending a tenancy
Valid notice must be given to end a tenancy and it must:
- Be in writing (e-mail, text, or verbal notices are not valid).
- Be signed by the person issuing it.
- Specify the date of service (day, month, year).
- Where a landlord is giving notice, they must give the reason.
- State that the tenant has the full 24 hours to vacate.
- State that any dispute to the validity of the notice or right of the landlord or tenant to serve it be referred to the RTB within 28 days of receipt.
In addition, the correct period of notice (outlined in the table following) must be given, depending on the duration of the tenancy. The period of notice starts on the day after the date of service of the notice.
| Duration of tenancy |
Notice period from Landlord |
| Less than 6 months |
28 days |
| Not less than 6 months but less than 1 year |
90 days |
| Not less than one year but less than three years |
120 days |
| Not less than three years but less than seven years |
180 days |
| Not less than seven years but less than eight years |
196 days |
| Not less than eight years |
224 days |
| Duration of tenancy |
Notice period from Tenant |
| Less than six months |
28 days |
| Not less than six months but less than one year |
35 days |
| More than one year but less than two years |
42 days |
| More than two years but less than four years |
56 days |
| More than four years but less than eight years |
84 days |
| Eight years or more |
112 days |
Rights in student apartment buildings
The contracts between student apartment complexes (both university owned and private) and their residents come under the remit of the Residential Tenacies Board. This means that residents of these buildings have rights and responsibilities as they are laid out in the Residential Tenacies Act. Residents of student apartment buildings are also free to refer any disputes with their provider to the RTB for review.
Rights in digs (owner occupied rentals)
In legal terms the agreement between landlord and renter, a licensee in this case, in owner occupied rentals is considered a contract rather than a tenacy. As such the renter, known as a licensee in this case, does not have the protections given to a tenant by the Residential Tenacies Act. For this reason it is very important that you have a written contract with the landlord and you are happy with all the points of this agreement.
You should ensure that the contract:
- Protects against any rent increases within a reasonable period, ideally a full year.
- Stipulates the terms for ending the agreement.
- Lays out notice periods.
- Identifies penalties for ending the agreement early.
Monetary disputes with your landlord can be referred to the Small Claims Court.
If you are having difficulty with your landlord please feel free to contact us.