Rent increase with immediate effect

Sounds like an invalid notice of rent review since it's not written and doesn't give the required 90 days notice. Have a look at the calculator in the previous post and it'll tell you what would be allowable (if anything given you're <24m into the lease).

"Unaware" or chancing their arm?

I'd say there's a lot of individual landlords who still don't know all the rules. We were chatting to one recently, he's in his late 60's and htg he really hadn't a clue. The last tenants were there ten years on a low rent and they bought their own place and moved out during covid. The house has been empty for months and is being refurbished now.

He knows the market rent in the area is 2k+ but didnt know the rules about RPZ's and didn't know the rent increase rules changed a few months ago. He knew he had to register a new tenancy with rtb but didn't know about part4 rights, 90 day notices, or that he had to use specific forms and send a copy to rtb, rules about notices to vacate etc etc. He said "I never got any of that information from the RTB" and tbh I've no idea if the RTB send information about changes to landlords, they assume everyone can look up their website. He didn't even know he had to tell RTB when the last tenants left.

We suggested he contacted a letting agent and he's since told my MIL that he's thinking of selling because its all too complicated. Theres still a lot of chancers though...

I'd ignore the advice of previous poster OP, if your LL doesn't even know the most basic elements of the legislation governing their business then there'll be other issues with them in future if you just let this slide

It is for some people but a similar thing happens with small businesses all the time around employment legislation, accounting & revenue rules, health & safety regs, company law, consumer law etc. Companies have HR and accounting staff to keep on top of it but mistakes still happen. People might think its pretty basic stuff but in my work I've seen some breaches that you wouldn't believe and most are simply because people don't know the rules but are happy to sort once they know.

GDPR for example had a big public information campaign for years before it came into effect. There hasnt been any amendments but the rules are still broken all the time even by large organisations and public bodies. Anyone who buys online also had issues with companies not knowing all the customs & vat rules since Brexit. It took years before every provider in the childcare sector was au-fait with the legislation when it was introduced and they still have issues. It is not unusual for mistakes to happen, but small landlords with no training are expected to be pitch-perfect all the time.

Everyone should keep the rules imo, but that's not always easy if they keep changing. Maybe the big professional landlord organisations are the way to go, they'll probably make a better job of ensuring the rules are kept by all parties...

Agree completely - I've never been in it, and I know about it too, but I think there's likely a lot of small landlords who have not kept up with all the changes and could make mistakes. I'm not saying there isn't a lot of chancers in the rental market (on both sides) but that's not exclusive, there's dodgy people in every sector who think the rules don't apply to them - just think of all the cash in hand folk who are found all over the place, trades, professions, many many examples.

The needing to wait 2 years before a rent increase is a common misconception. This was a temporary rule about 5 years ago as part of the initial RPZ rules, but once the initial period passed, any property could have the rent raised by up to 4% per year.

7% should be completely illegal under new rules from what I can tell. Under the old rules, you could get a bigger jump if they waited longer than 12 months for the increase (although even then, for 18 months it should have been at most a 6% increase). In addition, my own landlord recently sent an email saying that reviewed rent can only come into effect 90 days after notice has been given, so it should not be able to take place starting in the next month.

I'd say double check that you've filled out the calculator correctly first; if you have, then ring the agency and tell them that when you fill out the calculator, it's showing 3.5% and ask them why their calc is different

Under the old rules, a 7% increase would be allowed after 21 months. The calculation for this would be

4% per year * ( 21 / 12 ) = 7%

However, this was phased out in July 2021, months before your latest increase, and replaced with the current inflation-linked increases. Under this, you should only have to pay the 3.5% that the RTB calculator shows. From what I can see, you should not have to pay the 7% you're being asked to and the LL is either chancing their arm trying to get you to work on the old system, or they aren't even aware of what the new rules are. To double check though, you can talk to the RTB about it. There is a chat in the bottom-left corner of the page you've linked, and more contact details under: https://www.rtb.ie/contact-us

Your landlord may have used the old calculator? Or the calculation may have changed with inflation - there is a warning on the new calculator that amounts can change daily. In fairness, it’s hard to understand how to use the new calculator. On the old one you put in the date rent was last set and the date the new rent will take effect. That doesn’t work with an inflation-based calculator because we don’t know inflation 3 months in advance (and ll has to give 3 months notice of change) so it seems to be the date the rent was last set to the date you review the rent using the calculator. Effectively this means rent can’t go up for 15 months from start of the tenancy compared to 12 months before but it doesn’t explain that anywhere. What a confusing mess!

If you’re looking at May 2019 to now, I can’t see how they’re getting 7% on the new calculator, though that is what it would be on the old one (4% x 1.75 years)

My understanding is this,

You should have gotten written notice of the increase, it should be based on a template from the RTB site and it should inform you that you have 28 days to challenge it.

I can't say for certain but 7% sounds wrong, I'd say it RTB calculator is correct.

If I were you I'd go back to the management company and ask them if the 7% is correct based on the RTB calculator it should not be more than 3.5%. If that is the case can they please re issue the notices by x date. Also remind them that unless it is on the correct RTB template it's not valid.

The new formula is based on the Consumer Price Index rate on the day the tenancy started/ date the last rent was set and the CPI rate on the day the new rent is being set. If the OP's tenancy started in May2020 it was 101.1 and if it was reviewed today for instance it would be the current CPI at Sep2021 is 104.6.

The increase in rent can't be more than the difference between those two rates, so 104.6 - 101.1 = so 3.5% with a 90 day notice.