June 2025 Update
All of Ireland is now a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ).
From 20 June 2025, all private tenancies and student-specific accommodation tenancies and licences in Ireland now come under RPZ rules. This means:
- Rent can only be increased once every 12 months (or for existing tenancies in new RPZs the first review is permitted 24 months from the last rent review or the start of that tenancy)
- Rents cannot be increased by more than 2% per year, or by the rate of inflation if this is lower. (Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices - HICP).
- Depending on when the timing of a rent review and the HICP rate at the time, the allowed rent increase may be below 2% or none.
This calculator can be used to check when a property became a RPZ and calculate the maximum rent allowed for that property. (Note - there are some exemptions, and you can read about these here.)
Further reading/information on the latest changes to RPZs is available below:
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) - Press Release June 2025
- Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) - How Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) work
Designation History (Dec 2016 - May 2025)
This interactive map shows the dates that each LEA was designated an RPZ, this includes the LEAs that were designated on 20 June 2025.
Before the changes made on 20 June 2025, a Rent Pressure Zone was a designated area where rents could not be increased by more than general inflation, as recorded by the Harmonised Index of the Consumer Price (HICP), or by 2%, if inflation was higher. A Local Electoral Area (LEA) or Local Authority area was designated as a Rent Pressure Zone if the following criteria were met:
- Rent increases in the area must have been more than 7% annually in at least 4 of the last 6 quarters.
- The average rent in the last quarter must be higher than the standardised average rent for that area.
The table below shows the areas that had been designated prior to the all of Ireland RPZ designation on 20 June 2025. The last LEAs designated under the old designation rules were Castlebar LEA (Mayo) and Tullow LEA (Carlow) on 16 May 2025.
All RPZs – May 2025
Local Authorities | Dublin (4 LAs), Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wicklow, Galway (City and County LAs), Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford, Westmeath. |
Local Electoral Areas | Mayo: Castlebar, Westport. Roscommon: Athlone. Sligo: Sligo/Strandhill, Sligo/Drumcliffe. |
Carlow: Carlow, Tullow. Laois: Graiguecullen/Portarlington, Portlaoise. Offaly: Tullamore. Wexford: Gorey. | |
Clare: Ennis, Shannon. Cork: Cork City, Ballincollig/Carrigaline, Bandon/Kinsale, Cobh, Fermoy, Macroom, Mallow, Midleton. Kerry: Killarney. | |