Register on Time or Face a Fine!


Landlords will be familiar with the procedure for registering a tenancy with the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act, the cost of registering a tenancy is €70 per unit, with a composite fee of €300 where a number of units in the one property are being registered at the same time. Tenancies must be registered within one month of the creation of the tenancy, with a double fee of €140 applying to late registrations. Forms are stamped and dated the day they are received by the PRTB and this date remains as the official date of receipt of the application. Forms are regularly returned to landlords as incomplete or incorrectly filled out. The position up to now has been that under section 135 of the 2004 Act the Board return the form and allow the landlord a reasonable opportunity to rectify the error. Landlords have not been charged a late fee for this, provided the initial form has been received within 30 days of the tenancy being signed.

However, this policy looks set to change as the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, has announced that the 2004 Act will be amended to the effect that a double fee of €140 will be immediately incurred if there is any error or omission in the initial registration application. The official date of receipt of the application will be the date the correct form is received by the PRTB, and so if this date is outside the 30-day timeframe, a late fee of €140 will be immediately applied. So landlords, ensure that registration applications are completed correctly before sending them to the PRTB, or you could face a double registration charge of €140 per unit.

For further information, please contact Grainne Macdougald, Solicitor