How much can my landlord increase the rent?

Under the national rent control rules, rent can go up once a year by 2% or by the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index. New apartments and student accommodation where building work started on or after 10 June 2025 are the exception: those can follow inflation with no 2% ceiling.

Are Rent Pressure Zones still in place?

No. Rent Pressure Zones ended on 28 February 2026 and a national system of rent control took over on 1 March 2026. It applies everywhere rather than only in designated areas, so the question of whether your address is in a zone no longer decides anything.

Can my landlord put the rent up to the market rate?

Not for a tenancy that was already running before 1 March 2026. For a tenancy that began on or after that date, market rent can be set at the end of a six year cycle, or at the start of a new tenancy unless the previous one ended through no fault of the tenant.

Does this apply if I rent a room in my landlord's house?

No. Sharing a home with the owner is a licence rather than a tenancy, so the Residential Tenancies Acts and these rent rules do not cover it. Approved Housing Body and cost rental tenancies are outside the rules too.

How much can your rent go up?

Rent Pressure Zones ended on 28 February 2026. Since 1 March a national system of rent control applies everywhere, and this works out what it allows in your case.

Answer five questions and you get the maximum lawful rent with the calculation shown, so you can check it rather than take our word for it. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

1. Tenancy
2. Start date
3. Last rent set
4. Rent
5. Anything else

What kind of tenancy is it?

Three of these are outside the national rent control rules, so this is the question that decides whether the rest applies to you at all.

What the rules actually say

Rent can be increased once every twelve months, and the increase is capped at 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is the lower of the two. Both figures matter: in a year where inflation runs at 1.4% the ceiling is 1.4%, not 2%.

The cap applies to tenancies that began before 1 March 2026 as well as to ones that began after it. What changes with that date is the reset to market rent, which is never available for an ongoing tenancy from before it.

A landlord raising rent has to serve a rent review notice on the tenant and send it to the Residential Tenancies Board on the same day. A notice that does not go to the Board is invalid, which is worth knowing if you have been handed one.

If work has been done to the property

Substantial change to a property can exempt it from the cap for one rent setting. The bar is higher than most people expect and a single improvement rarely reaches it. The exemption checker walks the three routes through it.

The other side of it

Thinking about buying instead

What houses actually sold for, town by town, is on the house price pages. Those come from the Property Price Register rather than from asking prices, so they are what was paid rather than what was wanted.

Questions people ask

How much can my landlord increase the rent?: Under the national rent control rules, rent can go up once a year by 2% or by the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index. New apartments and student accommodation where building work started on or after 10 June 2025 are the exception: those can follow inflation with no 2% ceiling.
Are Rent Pressure Zones still in place?: No. Rent Pressure Zones ended on 28 February 2026 and a national system of rent control took over on 1 March 2026. It applies everywhere rather than only in designated areas, so the question of whether your address is in a zone no longer decides anything.
Can my landlord put the rent up to the market rate?: Not for a tenancy that was already running before 1 March 2026. For a tenancy that began on or after that date, market rent can be set at the end of a six year cycle, or at the start of a new tenancy unless the previous one ended through no fault of the tenant.
Does this apply if I rent a room in my landlord's house?: No. Sharing a home with the owner is a licence rather than a tenancy, so the Residential Tenancies Acts and these rent rules do not cover it. Approved Housing Body and cost rental tenancies are outside the rules too.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Every figure here links to the source it came from, and that source is the one to rely on.