Landlords cannot request "vacancy" before selling their property now, is this correct?

GalaxyRyder

Apparently landlords can no longer request vacancy prior to selling a property.

They can only sell with the tenant in-situ. Is this correct?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ivP3Q8qTuc

This was the RTE report on the change of legislation coming into effect next year.

As a result, apparently landlords want to get out of the market ASAP, as presumably they can command a significantly less asking price, with tenants in-situ during the sale.

So a policy intended to protect tenants long term, is actually causing a huge number to lose their tenancies, attributable to landlords exiting the market in light of this policy introduction.

Is this all correct?

MOD NOTE.

I’ve edited the post to make it more a question on the upcoming legislation change that has not come into effect yet.

OP, thinly veiled posts which start off the same as your previous 2 threads on the same matter will be edited or removed.

Thus, this thread will be limited to your question “is this true”.

The answer is no. Not yet.

PS. I didn’t want to remove your post as I feel you are entitled to post and ask questions but consistently posting the same threads will not be tolerated.

daithi7

Yes, I think you're right on your general premise that landlords will have to sell with tenants in situ.

But my understanding is that this is not in force yet , and will not come into effect until next March.

Can someone confirm this?

Or if I'm not correct, please let us know what the law is & will be & when on this stipulation?

con747

OP this is the third thread you have on this!!

Gumbo

The rule is not in force yet.
it’s a 6 year cycle for tenants but landlords can sell with empty possession if they come into hard times, or they can evict if they need the property for themselves or an immediate family member.

daithi7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862101#Comment_123862101

Thanks for that. So when do these stipulations come into force?

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862108#Comment_123862108

New tenancies from 1st March 2026.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2025-07-01/497/#pq-answers-497

purifol0

It's great being the government. You cause a massive housing crisis, deliberately make it worse, and then make it private landlords problem!

Of course small landlords didn't have a say in this legislation but I bet the big corporate ones did.

As for HAP tenants, good luck getting a small landlord to accept you now they'll be locked in for 6 years terms.

The increasing beauracracy is very obviously designed to leave only the state and big investment firms as landlords.

GalaxyRyder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862051#Comment_123862051

The point I was getting across was, there's an absolute rush of LL's getting out ahead of this, selling their properties now before this is implemented in March (referring to, from March, only being able to sell with the tenants in-situ, being unable to request vacancy for the purposes of a sale)

Disaster.

In all probability the government was trying to ensure greater security of tenure, but they've inadvertently caused a pre-emptive exodus.

And yes I am a victim of this circumstance but no, that's not why I opened this thread.

I was unaware of this legislation and of course it's zero co-incidence my LL decided to up and sell as soon as it was mentioned.

Agents in my area are telling me they've had an absolute influx of applicants from those in identical situations since this announcement.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862377#Comment_123862377

I've literally just signed contracts to buy an investment property.

One of the reasons are the changes in legislation.

But I have no plans to ever sell this property, so long term stable tenants are exactly what I want.

I've no issue with small changes in rents as they can be changed to the market each 6 years - quite similar to commercial leases that change every 5 years.

Small uncommitted landlords may leave, but for long term landlords it's great to have a long term system in place.

Firblog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862781#Comment_123862781

Is the tenant locked in for 6 years too? if not, its hardly of any benefit to a landlord surely?

Emblematic

It will free up homes for private purchase for families by discouraging small private landlords.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862824#Comment_123862824

Even if they were, good luck enforcing it

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862875#Comment_123862875

If they can't enforce it, then that is good news for prospective small landlords, although some here would disagree with that.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862895#Comment_123862895

I think you've got that backwards. If you sign tenants up for a long term and they decide to bail, you won't be able to get the rent off them for breaking the lease early.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862941#Comment_123862941

Sorry, I though your earlier comment: "Even if they were, good luck enforcing it" was directed at my earlier comment. Please ignore.

My view is that the new measure, if brought in, will be good for prospective family home buyers by encouraging small landlords out of the market.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862950#Comment_123862950

There are some difficulties there in the fact that not all rentals are places people want to buy though. We still need rentals.

Students are finding it impossible to get places to stay at the moment while studying away from home for example.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862953#Comment_123862953

It is a question of what is of net benefit to society. If you have to rent (such as students as you point out), then you want a lot of rental properties, but if you are looking to purchase and start a family, having large numbers of properties owned by small landlords and therefore unavailable to purchase is not a good thing and arguably not good for society as a whole.

thenuisance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862377#Comment_123862377

There have been quite a few legislative changes in relation to landlord/tenant relationships in the last few years.

In each case there has been a forecast of a tsunami of landlords leaving the market. I would expect that if this was the case we would see a huge uptick in the sales of properties.

Dublin has the highest concentration of rented properties. Here are the numbers of property sales in Dublin (note that some of these transactions are sales of multiple properties - in most cases these are new build-to-rent properties) from 2018 to 2024

2018 18638
2019 18264
2020 14603 (Covid)
2021 16382 (Partially Covid)
2022 18365
2023 18834
2024 18980

I'm not seeing much movement there.

Emblematic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862966#Comment_123862966

I don't think the net amount of rental properties has been reducing over the years however.

somenergy

It doesn't matter what you think a market should be increasing annually to meet a growing demand sacrificing the few who need protecting should be the state's job not private investors continuing to restrict what should be a free market is wrong

Its better to leave a property vacant if its just an investment

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862824#Comment_123862824

Tenant has to give notice - but not locked in for the 6 years. But there's a finite time to wait if you are renting well below market and want to increase.

I can see why many are selling up as there are many accidental landlords out there who don't know what they are doing in 5 years time and probably never should have been in the rental market, but may have had little choice or it made sense at the time.

But if you are investing as a long term income from a specific asset class, then the changes are reasonable. I'm semi retiring next year and I see the property as a fixed income stream for the next 20+ (hopefully 30) years.

pc7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862781#Comment_123862781

good luck JV, but if you get one bad tenant you'll see how hard it is to have any comeback or get them out! (and I know there are bad landlords too, but its a massive risk now to be a landlord in my view.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123862961#Comment_123862961

I think one thing we can agree on it that it does vary from person to person. If you're a student from the countryside studying in Dublin then you're going to need a rental in Dublin.

There are lots of one bedroom apartments about that a family couldn't buy to live in. I rent out a 1 bedroom apartment in Dublin exclusively to students that is not fit for more than a couple. (it's in D1 as well, you wouldn't want to be living there long term, it's a stepping stone property)

Can't imagine a family living in it but from a 'net positive' to society, it gives students a place to rent in Dublin while they're studying, which should then allow them a greater income to buy a house in the future.

daithi7

Ah yeah, this stupid socialist idea that small landlords don't provide anything to society & should be encouraged out of the market is so facile & fupped up it's ridiculous imho.

Clearly, tying capital up in bricks & mortar is a medium to long term investment which doesn't suit everybody who is looking for a place to live. If you're young, mobile, likely to be changing jobs or are a student, or an overseas contractor, etc you will want an abundant, diversified array of properties avaiable to let.

By progressively hounding out small landlords from the rental market, the government are hurting the suppliers of the living needs of others cos the government , banks & developers haven't & aren't building enough new stock. Supply is the issue, not small landlords.

thenuisance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123864277#Comment_123864277

I get what you're saying but the small landlords aren't building any new stock either. The problem is that they are competing in the home buyer market. For the young mobile renter an apartment is ideal but most of them end up sharing what could be somebody's home. Part of the reason for this is that the 'build-to-rent' market only sells in chunks or rents them out themsleves so an individual cannot gain access to a rental property in a block. A couple of decades ago we used to envy the continental model where pension funds built blocks and provided good well-maintained apartments on long term leases. Our comparison was with large elderly buildings in the inner city poorly divided into squalid kips owned by landlords who paid little or no attention to legal requirements to legislation. The 'continental model' disappeared a while ago on the continent. Very large corporate landlords control the rental market in most large cities - Dublin is no different. A very few companies own most of the apartments in the city and they have the ability, and do, control the market. Social housing provided a market buffer across europe - ensuring that market domination was difficult. Every city's problems have stemmed from their decision to reduce social housing. Those big players can decide when to release new housng on to the market - keeping supply constricted and rents high.

You are absolutely correct - it's not small landlords - but because they are forced to compete in the same market as people who are looking for a home they can be cast as the enemy.

thenuisance

Just curious - what do you mean by 'net' amount? I have a possible source for Dublin rental property numbers over the years that I can use in an attempt to answer your question so knowing what that means would help

MakersMark

This rule will have an unexpected consequence for Revenue when a rented house is inherited.

Value with a tenant in place is hugely reduced. The house may not even be saleable.

NNo One is buying houses with tenants in place

Emblematic

In fairness to the government, they are giving a reasonable amount of notice to small landlords to get out if they don't like what is coming. Either get out or stay in and accept the regulation.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123865094#Comment_123865094

The reason nobody is buying houses with tenants in place is because landlords are able to evict for the purposes just of putting the house on the market. Remove that and every rented accommodation is put on the market with tenants in situ

It also means the landlord buying doesn't have to go to the effort of looking for new tenants so it's a win-win in many respects

MakersMark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123866316#Comment_123866316

A house with tenants in situ is unsaleable.

Makes no sense as an investment, so no one will buy.

This directly affects value for inheritance property.

A house rented in Dublin on low rents is worth considerably less than a vacant house.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123866322#Comment_123866322

Thankfully since you aren't elaborating on any point the bar is set quite low for my counter argument

A house with tenants in situ is saleable.

Makes perfect sense as an investment, so no qualms about buying for an investor.

This has no effect on the value for inheritance property.

A house rented in Dublin on low rents is worth the exact same as a vacant house that once had a tenant in it because of the rent pressure zones