The Cabinet has approved legislation to provide for a temporary and conditional stay on tenancy terminations this winter.
The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2022 will defer 'no fault' tenancy terminations due to occur during the winter from taking effect until after 31 March 2023.The main points to note from the Department's press release are summarised below:
- The ban will cover licences of student-specific accommodation (as well as residential tenancies generally);
- The ban will not apply to the termination of tenancies on the grounds of non-payment of rent (the press release refers to tenants who "wilfully withhold" rent) or breach of other tenant obligations (similar to the moratorium put in place during COVID-19);
- Where a valid 'no-fault' termination notice has already been served (i.e. before the ban comes into effect), the tenancy cannot be terminated during the winter emergency period; termination will be deferred to the period between 1 April 2023 and 18 June 2023 depending on when the termination notice was served and the duration of the relevant tenancy;
- A termination notice served during the winter emergency period in respect of a tenancy of less than 6 months cannot specify a termination date earlier than 18 June 2023.
Whilst not specifically confirmed in the press release, it is understood that the ban will be in place from early November with the Government planning to introduce the legislation required to give effect to the ban in the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish parliament) next week.
We will provide further updates as and when further information becomes available and the Government publishes the above Bill.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.