I have been renting a one bedroom apartment alone for 18 months. During this time, I met a partner and we would like to move in together. Ideally we would like to move into my apartment as it would be difficult to find another property to rent in the city. Should I notify my landlord? Is it possible for the landlord to raise the rent?
The situation you describe happens regularly. The first thing to note is that since you have continuously occupied the property in question for 18 months, you have established security of tenure under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and all other subsequent amending laws, writes Marcus O’Connor.
In fact, over the past few years there have been many changes to the original law, and over the summer more changes have been made to the legislation. These changes not only strengthened the security of tenure in place for tenants, but they also extended the notice periods a landlord must give when they wish to end a tenancy under section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004-2019.
However, the good news is that since you have been living in your apartment for over six months, a Part 4 tenancy is now underway alongside this legislation, which means you can stay in the property for another 5 and a half years. . Also, the landlord can only end your tenancy for limited reasons.
As for wanting to move your partner into the apartment – assuming it’s big enough for two people – you have nothing to worry about if you do the following:
First, you need to let your landlord know that you want your partner to live with you and join the rental before they move in.
Problems arise when tenants move people into a property without telling the landlord, as this would be a breach of the tenancy and lease agreement in place. In such a situation, the landlord would have the right to terminate the tenancy due to the violation, but only after a warning letter of 28 days to rectify the violation would have been ignored.
Once you have communicated your move-in request to your partner, you must provide the landlord with a complete list of documents. This will allow a similar formal verification procedure to take place on your partner as was done with you before you moved into the property.
If everything is in order, your landlord should not unreasonably withhold consent for your partner to join you in the property. Remember that this is not a request to replace a tenant already living in the property, so your partner does not inherit any security of tenure, but starts from scratch. I mention this point to emphasize that if the landlord wanted to end the tenancy in the future, it would affect the amount of notice he would have to give.
You shouldn’t have to worry about your concern about landlord raising the rent, as there are strict rules and legislation on how and when a landlord can raise the rent for a property in a rental pressure zone (RPZ). Some of these rules include a 90-day rent review notice, offering comparable rents and applying the appropriate RPZ calculations. If your property is not in an RPZ, the landlord may choose to raise the rent as they believe there may be more natural wear and tear on the property with two people living there.
Finally, if you don’t have a tenancy agreement, it will be up to the landlord or their agent to allow your partner to move into the apartment and gain their own security of tenure after six months.
However, the best practice would be to draw up a new tenancy agreement, writing down your names and those of your partner. In summary, if you communicate well with your landlord, your partner should be able to move into the property without an immediate increase in monthly rent and without affecting your security of tenure.
Marcus O’Connor is a Chartered Valuation Expert and a member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland
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