President Higgins signs bill into law which will see the 4% rent hike rule scrapped.The Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021 was brought forward in the Dail by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien in June.
The current cap of 4% on annual rent increases will be replaced and rents in RPZs can now only go up, if necessary, in line with general inflation as recorded in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). This will result in far lower rent increases for the estimated 74% of all tenancies which are in RPZs. HICP averaged 0.73% over the past three years.
The Bill was previously passed in the Dail and Seanad, and has now been signed into law by the president.And Minister O’Brien said: “We are now taking action to ensure that tenants will only pay rent increases if required to, which are in line with general inflation, which is currently below 2 per cent.”
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) will establish and maintain a new RPZ calculator and publish a table of relevant HICP values to assist with the lawful setting of rents in these pressure areas.