If your tenant has stopped paying rent, you need to to send them a written rent arrears warning notice before you can terminate the tenancy.
By law, tenants are obliged to pay rent on the property until the tenancy ends even if there is a dispute between you. But there may be an innocent reason as to why you haven’t received the rent this month. Or the tenant may have had a change in circumstance that they haven’t yet felt able to tell you about.
In many cases, if the tenant hasn’t paid rent on the due date, it may be best to give them a call first, before taking any further action. If a simple mistake is to blame for the non-payment, a quick phone call could get the problem sorted without the need for any paperwork and any unnecessary friction. If the tenant is no longer able to pay the rent for whatever reason, then it’s down to you whether you’d like to come to an agreement with them or start taking steps to end the tenancy.
If the tenant won’t answer the phone or if they still haven’t paid rent a few days after promising they would, then it’s definitely time to take further action. Your next move will vary depending on how long the tenant has been living in the property.
If The Tenant Has Lived There For Less Than 6 Months
In this instance, as long as there is no lease, you are not required to give your tenant a reason as to why you are terminating the tenancy. If a tenant is already not paying rent during this time it might be better to cut your losses and simply end the tenancy before the rent arrears get out of hand. You can simply send the tenant a written 28 day Notice of Termination and hope that your next tenant proves to be more reliable.
If you decide to state rent arrears as a reason for ending the tenancy, you will need to follow the procedure below regardless of how long the tenant has lived at the property.
If The Tenant Has Lived There For More Than 6 Months
If the tenant has ignored your first attempt to remedy the situation then there is a series of steps you can take. From this point, it’s important that you contact the tenant in writing to make sure you have a record of your communications. It’s also vital that you include all the necessary information for each step so as to avoid any issues further down the line.
Step 1: Give The Tenant a Warning Notice
First, you should issue the tenant a written Warning Notice. You might want to send this through recorded post, deliver it through the tenant’s mailbox or even put it on the door of the property to make sure the tenant gets it.
In the Warning Notice you must do the following:
- Make it clear that they are in rent arrears
- Give the tenant a reasonable timeframe to remedy the situation. Usually, this would be a minimum of 14 days, with more time if there is a build-up of rent arrears that you can’t reasonably expect the tenant to pay within 2 weeks.
- Let the tenant know that you are entitled to terminate the tenancy if they fail to pay their rent arrears in the timeframe given. Note that the first day of the notice period is the day after the notice is served.
Hopefully, this will do the trick and the tenant will pay what they owe. However, if they don’t, it’s time to move on to step 2 which kick starts the eviction process.
Step 2: Give the Tenant a Notice of Termination of the Tenancy
Once the initial notice period has passed and you have received no money, you are entitled to issue a Notice Of Termination. In order for the notice to be valid, you must:
- Send the notice in letter form, not email
- Sign, or get your agent to sign the notice
- Date the notice
- State the reason for the termination of the tenancy
- Specify the termination date (see the table below)
- State that the tenant has the entire 24 hours of this date to leave the property
- State that if there is any issue with the validity of the notice it must be referred to the RTB within 28 days of receipt
The notice that you need to give the tenant will depend on how long they have lived at the property. Here is a breakdown of those notice periods.
| Duration Of Tenancy | Notice Period |
| Less than 6 months | 28 days |
| More than 6 months but less than 1 year | 35 days |
| More than 1 year but less than 2 years | 42 days |
| More than 2 years but less than 4 years | 56 days |
| More than 4 years but less than 8 years | 84 days |
| More than 8 years | 112 days |
You will also need to complete a Notice of Termination Return Form and send it, along with a copy of the notice, to the RTB. This must be done within 1 month of the notice period ending. It’s a simple form that asks for straightforward information about the tenancy including your reason for termination, and you can download it here.
What Next?
If the tenant is still in rent arrears once they have vacated the property you can pursue a case against them through the RTB by submitting a dispute resolution application. Even if you don’t have the tenant’s forwarding address, as long as you provide their RTB with the PPS number they should be able to trace them within a few weeks.
Although the RTB prioritise cases of rent arrears, unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that you will ever get your money. However, you are entitled to retain part or all of the deposit to cover any rent arrears which should go some way towards recouping the cost.
For more advice, read our post on How To Rent Out Your Residential Property In Ireland and our post on the 12 Things You Must do As a Landlord in Ireland.
Summary
In an ideal world tenants would always pay the rent on time, but it’s an unfortunate reality that rent arrears are a fairly common problem for landlords. In fact, according to the RTB they can account for almost half of all tenancy terminations. While you can minimise the risk through thorough proper referencing, the truth is that anyone can fall behind on their rent. But as long as you act quickly and use the proper procedures, you will be able to get the issue resolved.
