Proposed rental reforms planned to take effect on Sunday, 1 March 2026 would overhaul rent controls for new tenancies while setting distinct caps for student-specific accommodation (SSA) depending on when a scheme began development.
Under the Department’s outline, newer SSA schemes linked to the post-10 June 2025 development window could set an initial market rent but would be limited to market “resets” at three-year intervals, with annual increases capped in between.
The measures remain proposed pending passage of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2025.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) told SIN the reforms would “amend the current system of rent controls” and provide “new measures to protect tenants, including stronger security of tenure.”
A spokesperson for the Department said the General Scheme was approved in October 2025 and is now moving through “priority drafting” and “pre legislative scrutiny” as the State works to have the package in place for March.
DHLGH said the Bill will be “published as soon as possible” and “open to amendment” during the Oireachtas process, stressing that the measures remain proposed until they complete the legislative stages.
Asked about the timeline in a parliamentary reply on 13 January 2026, Housing Minister James Browne said the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2026 would be published “in the coming weeks” and that provisions aimed at mitigating impacts on “smaller” landlords were being considered during drafting.
For students, DHLGH’s outline centres on how SSA is treated at first letting, on annual increases, and on when providers can reset rents back to market levels.
It said the ability to set an initial market rate would continue for new SSA tenancies or licences created on or after 1 March 2026 where development commenced on or after 10 June 2025, and after a “substantial change” to older schemes that “warrants a greater rent.”
For existing SSA, it said providers “will not be able to reset to market rent” until the first rent setting on or after 1 March 2029, after which resetting would be limited to the first rent setting after the third anniversary of the last market reset.
For new SSA, rent can be reset to market only “for the first rent setting after the third anniversary” of when it was last set to market, according to the Department, giving an example where a scheme opening on 3 April 2027 could reset “on or after 3 April 2030.”
On annual increases, it said existing SSA would be capped at “2% per annum pro rata or CPI, whichever is lower” when market resetting is not allowed, while new SSA would be capped at CPI in the same periods.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) told SIN the measures are “not yet law” and said its public guidance will continue to reflect current legislation until any Bill is enacted.
It said any proposed new law must pass the Dáil and Seanad and be signed by the President, and it plans a national public information campaign “in advance of 1 March 2026” once the legislation is enacted.
The RTB also said it does not currently provide rental price indicators for student-specific accommodation and said 2025 SSA registration data is still being analysed and “will be published as early as possible in 2026,” while county-level SSA registration datasets are available through its data hub.
In Galway, the practical impact for students will depend not only on the rulebook but on whether new bedspaces actually open at scale, and at what rent levels they enter the market.
Galway City Council said it does “not maintain a register specifically” for purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) and directed readers to its online planning enquiry system.
It said the system can be searched by “Development Description” to return records where student accommodation is referenced in an application.
The council stressed its examples were provided “from memory,” and should not be treated as a complete list of every PBSA proposal in the city.
It pointed to a mix of schemes at different stages, including a Coolough Road development “consisting of 586 beds” that is “not built,” and a second Coolough Road scheme described as “under construction” with “257” bedrooms.
It also referenced larger schemes off the Headford Road and at Queen Street, alongside a Westside proposal “consisting of 240 bedspaces” and a small live planning application at Ballybane Shopping Centre containing “17” bedrooms.
Public planning records allow readers to verify that these schemes correspond to identifiable case files and published development descriptions, but they do not, on their own, confirm whether or when bedspaces will be delivered.
On conditions attached to major PBSA permissions, the council said “it would be generally standard practice to include a condition to incorporate a management regime for the PBSA.”
It added that “usually during the summer months, the PBSA can include a condition allowing for tourism occupancy,” depending on the terms of the relevant permission.
On oversight and enforcement, it said complaints from the public about unauthorised conversion “would be investigated by the Planning Enforcement Unit,” while conversion to other uses “may require planning permission, unless the use is covered by a condition of planning.”
Asked about wider rental-market effects, it said it is “unclear at present, as many of the PBSA are not yet operational,” adding: “In theory, it should free up some capacity in the private rental market.”
On whether developers are altering behaviour in anticipation of the March 2026 framework, it said this was “not apparent yet.”
University of Galway (UG) told SIN it does “not have any formal nomination agreements in place” with purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) providers.
A spokesperson for UG said on-campus accommodation rates “will be advertised in February”.
A university spokesperson said it “continually monitors” housing pressures in Galway through “connections with accommodation providers, private landlords and professionals who work in the sector,” as well as “reports directly from students”.
It said the university provides links to external agencies including Threshold and the RTB, “who can advise students on lease agreements”.
The spokesperson said it also observes accommodation-cost pressures through Financial Aid applications and said its StudentPad portal helps build “a picture of supply and demand, as well as cost”.
Threshold, the national housing charity, told said it is seeing most PBSA-related student queries around lease terms and leaving accommodation early rather than rent increases, based on its 2025 casework.
“Every three years, new SSAs (completed on or after June 10th, 2025) will be allowed to reset rent to market rent,” campaigns officer Cat Clark told SIN.
“However, we still worry with rents increasing to market rent every three years will quickly make this accommodation unaffordable,” she said.
Clark also told said that PBSA residents should understand their status under the Residential Tenancies Acts, saying they are generally treated as “licensees, not tenants,” which can limit protections and means some security-of-tenure reforms are unlikely to apply in the same way.
Threshold advised students to keep their contract, RTB registration documentation and written correspondence with providers, and to retain any Notice of Rent Review paperwork if they believe an increase is unlawful or a term is unfair.
It also warned Galway’s tight market increases scam risk and urged students to verify identity and avoid rushed payments where possible.
CATU Galway, on the other hand, told said it has not been hearing “a huge amount from students in PBSA,” and said most student members raising housing issues have been renting in the standard private market.
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) told said that Minister James Lawless “fully supports” the rental reforms being advanced by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), describing them as “an important step toward unlocking the development of much-needed student accommodation across Ireland.”
A spokesperson for DFHERIS said design choices in the purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) rules will matter, warning that “any changes” must be “carefully designed” because, “If Purpose Built Student Accommodation is not appropriately integrated into the rent control framework, there is a risk of unintended market distortions that could discourage future investment.”
They said the objective should be “to strike the right balance—ensuring students receive the support they need while creating the conditions for increased supply of student housing,” and noted that the private rental reforms fall under Housing Minister James Browne, while Lawless “remains committed to working collaboratively” on challenges facing students in the private rental market.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) told an Oireachtas committee in July 2025 that the State’s short-term activation programme targeted schemes that already had planning permission but “could not be delivered due to viability issues, principally due to high development costs.”
Separate sector analysis reported by The Irish Times, citing a KPMG study commissioned by Global Student Accommodation (GSA), said that in Dublin
“construction was under way on less than a third” of 245 purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) developments that had received planning permission since 2018.
KPMG said planning delays and other factors had “hindered project delivery in the planning pipeline”, “resulting in a notable, pronounced supply shortage”.
In another report, The Irish Times quoted GSA as saying “fewer than 1,300” PBSA bedspaces were under construction from “a pipeline of more than 11,000” units with planning consent.
The RTB told SIN its public guidance “will continue to reflect current law” until the legislation to enact the proposed changes is passed, and said it will run a national information campaign before 1 March 2026 once the Bill is enacted.
SIN is pursuing further documentation to clarify how the planned student-specific accommodation rules will be applied in practice, including how schemes will be classified by commencement date, how rent-setting changes will be communicated to students ahead of Sunday, 1 March 2026, and what evidence exists on whether permitted student-bed pipelines are translating into delivered accommodation.
