Registering a tenancy with the RTB

A landlord is required by law to register their tenancy with the RTB. Registration lasts the length of the tenancy. But it is subject to a maximum duration of four years. When a tenancy has been in existence for four years it must then be re-registered with the RTB.

If, for example, a tenant occupies a rented dwelling under a one year lease but remains on in the dwelling after the one year period, there is no need to register that tenancy again with the RTB. Registration is not an annual requirement.

All privately-rented property must be registered with the RTB. However, there are dwellings which are exempt from registration

The registration of some tenancies in certain dwellings (a “dwelling” means, a property let for rent or valuable consideration as a self-contained residential unit and includes any building or part of a building used as a dwelling and any out office, yard, garden) are exempt, not including privately-rented property.

These exemptions include:

(a) a dwelling that is used wholly or partly for the purpose of carrying on a business (the exemption does not apply to a dwelling that is for example above a retail unit)

(b) a dwelling to which Part II of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act 1982 applies,

(c) a dwelling let by or to a public authority

(d) a dwelling, the occupier of which is entitled to acquire, under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act 1978 , the fee simple in respect of it,

(e) a dwelling occupied under a shared ownership lease,

(f) a dwelling let to a person whose entitlement to occupation is for the purpose of a holiday only

(g) a dwelling within which the landlord also resides (i.e. landlord and tenant share the same self-contained property)

(h) a dwelling within which the spouse, parent or child of the landlord resides and no lease or tenancy agreement in writing has been entered into by any person resident in the dwelling

(i) a dwelling the subject of a tenancy granted under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980 or under Part III of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1931 or which is the subject of an application made under section 21 of the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980 and the court has yet to make its determination in the matter.

At Casey Kennedy, we remove the worry of registering a tenancy when you let through our company. For more information, read here.