From 1 March 2026, every new private tenancy in Ireland is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration (TMD) — it lasts six years, then renews in further six-year cycles. Your tenant can still leave any time on proper notice; you, the landlord, can only end it during the cycle on a permitted ground. Which grounds you have depends on whether you're a small landlord (three or fewer tenancies) or a large landlord (four or more). Rent can only be reset to market rent at a cycle boundary or in specific tenant-exit cases — otherwise the 2% or CPI cap (whichever is lower) applies. The hard part for a self-manager is simply tracking where each tenancy sits. TenantSync anchors each tenancy to its start date and tracks that six-year clock alongside your RTB and rent-review dates, on web, iOS and Android. Free 14-day trial, no card required.
If you manage your own rental, you already carry the same legal weight as an agency — the RTB registrations, the rent rules, the notice periods — without the back office that goes with them. The March 2026 reforms added one more thing to carry, and it's a subtle one: your tenancies no longer sit still. Each one is now a six-year clock that starts the day the tenant moves in and governs two of the most consequential decisions you'll ever make about a property — when you can end the tenancy, and when you can reset the rent.
It isn't a deadline you can write in a diary and forget. It's a state each tenancy is always in, moving quietly through its cycle. Get it wrong and you face the two most expensive mistakes in lettings: an invalid termination that leaves a tenant legally in place, or a rent reset you were entitled to and missed. This guide explains exactly how the clock works for a landlord managing their own property — and how to stop tracking it in your head.
This is a guide, not legal advice
The Tenancy of Minimum Duration framework, the small/large landlord distinction, the grounds for termination and the rent-reset rules are detailed, fact-specific and still bedding in. This article explains the general position for private residential tenancies created from 1 March 2026. Confirm the current rules for your own tenancies with the RTB, and take legal advice on a contested termination or reset, before acting.
TMD vs the old Part 4: what actually changed
For years, security of tenure ran on Part 4: after six months a tenant gained the right to stay, in cycles, and a landlord had a set of grounds — including some "no-fault" ones — to bring a tenancy to an end. For tenancies created from 1 March 2026, that's replaced by the Tenancy of Minimum Duration. The core is simple to state:
- Six-year minimum duration. A new tenancy runs for six years, and you can only end it within that period on a permitted ground.
- Rolling cycles. At the end of the six years the tenancy renews for another six-year cycle, and continues that way — it doesn't simply lapse.
- The tenant isn't locked in. The minimum duration binds you, not the tenant: they can still end the tenancy at any time by giving proper notice.
For a self-managing landlord, the practical shift is one of mindset. Under the old rules you tended to think in terms of "the tenancy" as an open-ended thing you could exit on certain grounds. Under TMD you have to think in terms of where you are in the six years, because that position determines what's open to you at any given moment.
Why "duration" is the word that matters
The reform's whole logic is duration: a tenancy is now a six-year commitment from your side, and the two levers you care about — ending the tenancy and resetting the rent — are both pegged to where you are in that six-year window. Misjudge where a tenancy sits in its cycle and you can misjudge both.
How the 6-year cycle works
Everything flows from one date: the tenancy's commencement date — the day the tenancy begins. From it, the six-year cycle is simple arithmetic, but it's arithmetic that has to be right, and it sits alongside the other date the same commencement triggers: your 30-day RTB registration deadline.
| Point in the cycle | What it governs |
|---|---|
| Commencement | The clock starts. The 30-day RTB registration deadline and the six-year duration both run from here. |
| During the 6 years | You can only end the tenancy on a permitted ground (which depends on landlord type). Rent increases are capped at 2% or CPI, whichever is lower. |
| End of the 6-year cycle | The tenancy renews for a further six years. This is the point at which a market-rent reset can be permitted. |
| Next cycle | The same rules run again on the new six-year window — a rolling commitment, not a one-off. |
The cycle is arithmetic on the commencement date. It sounds trivial with one property — until you factor in RTB renewals, rent-review timing and a market-rent window that only opens at a boundary you have to calculate yourself.
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When you can end a tenancy — and are you a "small" landlord?
The biggest change TMD brings is who can end a tenancy, and when. You can no longer end a tenancy simply because the six years are up, or because you'd prefer a different tenant — and the grounds available to you depend on your landlord type. Under the reforms, a small landlord has three or fewer tenancies, and a large landlord has four or more (companies included).
This matters more for self-managers than people expect, because a landlord managing their own units can fall on either side of the line. Two or three tenancies and you're a small landlord; grow to four and the grounds available to you narrow. So the first question isn't "how do I end this tenancy" — it's "which category am I in right now?"
| Landlord type | Ending a Tenancy of Minimum Duration |
|---|---|
| Small landlord (3 or fewer tenancies) |
May end a TMD during its six-year term in limited cases — for example where financial or other hardship requires the property to be sold, or where the landlord or a close family member needs to live in it — in addition to tenant-breach grounds. |
| Large landlord (4+ tenancies) |
No longer able to use 'no-fault' grounds. During the cycle a tenancy can generally only be ended for reasons such as a tenant breach (for example serious anti-social behaviour, or rent arrears after a valid warning). |
Whichever category you're in, the mechanics of a valid Notice of Termination didn't get easier in 2026 — arguably the opposite. You still need the correct notice period for the tenancy's length, the correct statutory reason stated on the notice, and the notice filed with the RTB. Miss a step and the termination can be void, no matter how genuine your ground.
The ground has to be real — and followed through
Grounds like "intention to sell" or "own or family use" come with follow-through obligations, and getting the paperwork or the timeline wrong is exactly what gets a termination overturned at the RTB. If you're ending a tenancy for any reason, our companion guide on the notice, RTB filing and timeline for selling a tenanted property walks through the process step by step.
The market-rent reset — the window you don't want to miss
The other lever pegged to the cycle is rent. Between resets, you're bound by the national rent cap: any increase is limited to 2% or CPI, whichever is lower. The only times rent can be brought up to market rent are specific, and they're tied to the cycle and to how a previous tenancy ended:
- At the end of a six-year cycle — the boundary is the point a reset can be permitted.
- When a new tenancy begins, where the previous tenancy ended because the tenant left by choice, breached their obligations, or the property no longer suited their needs.
The flip side matters just as much: you cannot reset to market rent for the next tenancy after a 'no-fault' termination. For a self-managing landlord, the takeaway is that the six-year boundary isn't just an ending — it's a financial event. If you don't know when it falls, you can leave a legitimate market-rent reset on the table for another six years, or you can attempt one when you're not entitled to it and have it disputed.
If the rent-cap maths is what you're worried about, the calculator does it for you: our guide to the National Rent Cap calculator shows how TenantSync returns the maximum legal rent and generates the rent-review notice from your phone.
One trap: your older tenancies play by different rules
Here's the part that catches self-managers with more than one property. The TMD framework applies to tenancies created from 1 March 2026. Tenancies that began before that date are dealt with under separate transitional arrangements — so if you have one tenancy from 2024 and a new one from 2026, they may sit under different rules for termination and rent.
That mix — new tenancies on the TMD clock, older ones on transitional rules — is precisely where a landlord tracking things in their head or a spreadsheet slips. It's easy to apply the rule you read about most recently to a tenancy it doesn't actually govern. Each tenancy has to be treated on its own basis, from its own start date. Confirm how each of your tenancies is treated at rtb.ie.
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Why this is genuinely hard to keep by hand
None of the individual rules is impossible. What makes TMD hard for a self-managing landlord is that it turns each tenancy into a small, moving system of dates that all reference each other:
- The commencement date drives the six-year clock and the 30-day RTB registration deadline and the annual RTB renewal.
- The cycle boundary — six years on from commencement — is the moment a market-rent reset can open, and it has to be calculated, not remembered.
- Your landlord type can change as you add or drop tenancies, and it changes the grounds you have to end a tenancy.
- Older tenancies sit under transitional rules, so "the rule" isn't the same for every property you hold.
With one property it's manageable. With three or four across different start dates, "which tenancy is where in its cycle, and what does that let me do this month?" is a question a spreadsheet answers slowly and a person answers wrongly.
How TenantSync tracks the 6-year clock for you
This is exactly the job TenantSync is built for. Rather than ask you to track the cycle, it derives it. You enter a tenancy's commencement date once, and the app anchors everything to it:
- Cycle position — each tenancy is pinned to its start date, so you can see where it sits in its six-year cycle at a glance, and when the next boundary falls.
- RTB deadlines in step — the 30-day registration deadline and the annual renewal are tracked from the same date, with reminders, so compliance and the cycle stay aligned.
- Part 4 / Further Part 4 rights dates — the app tracks the tenancy's security-of-tenure milestones as part of one compliance timeline, not as separate notes to yourself.
- Rent-review eligibility — it flags when a review is due and works with the National Rent Cap calculator so the increase you set is a legal one.
- One dashboard, everywhere — it's the same view on web, iOS and Android, so you can check where a tenancy stands from your phone at a viewing or on the way to the property.
The point isn't to replace the RTB or your own judgement — it's to remove the guesswork. Instead of reconstructing dates in your head, you open the app and see, per tenancy, where you are in the cycle and what's coming next. For a landlord doing this alongside a day job, that's the difference between staying on the right side of the rules and finding out you weren't when it's already too late.
The same compliance engine agencies use — at a self-manager's price
TenantSync's Starter plan covers up to 10 units, with the RTB deadline tracker, cycle tracking and National Rent Cap calculator included. It's the same engine bigger agencies run, sized and priced for someone managing their own properties. See how self-managing landlords stay fully RTB-compliant for the full picture.
How to get started
- Start your free 14-day trial — no credit card required.
- Download the app on iOS or Android, or use the web platform.
- Add your tenancies with each one's commencement date — the app builds the six-year cycle from there.
- Check your compliance dashboard to see cycle position, RTB deadlines and rent-review eligibility per tenancy.
- Act with confidence when a boundary, a review or a termination comes up — and confirm specifics with the RTB.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration?
It's the security-of-tenure framework for private residential tenancies created from 1 March 2026. Each tenancy lasts a minimum of six years, then renews into further six-year cycles. The minimum duration binds the landlord — the tenant can still leave any time on proper notice, while the landlord can only end it during the cycle on a permitted ground. TMD replaces the old Part 4 arrangement for new tenancies. Confirm the current rules at rtb.ie.
Does it apply to tenancies I started before March 2026?
No — the TMD framework applies to tenancies created from 1 March 2026. Tenancies that began before that date are dealt with under separate transitional arrangements, so your older tenancies may follow different rules for termination and rent. If you hold a mix of old and new tenancies, each one has to be treated on its own basis. Confirm how each is treated at rtb.ie.
When can I end a Tenancy of Minimum Duration?
Only during the cycle on a permitted ground, and the grounds depend on landlord type. A small landlord (three or fewer tenancies) may end a tenancy in limited cases — such as hardship requiring a sale, or needing the property for the landlord or a close family member — in addition to tenant-breach grounds. A large landlord (four or more) can no longer use 'no-fault' grounds. Any Notice of Termination still needs the correct notice period, the statutory reason and RTB filing. Confirm the process at rtb.ie.
When can I reset the rent to market rent?
Generally at the end of a six-year cycle, and when a new tenancy begins where the previous tenant left by choice, breached their obligations, or the property no longer suited their needs. You cannot reset to market rent for the next tenancy after a 'no-fault' termination. Between resets, increases are capped at 2% or CPI, whichever is lower. Confirm the current rules and figures at rtb.ie.
Am I a small landlord or a large landlord?
A small landlord has three or fewer tenancies; a large landlord has four or more (companies included). A self-managing landlord can be either. The distinction changes the grounds you have to end a TMD, so it's worth knowing which side of the line you're on before you plan a termination. Confirm how the rules apply to you at rtb.ie.
How does TenantSync help with the 6-year cycle?
TenantSync anchors each tenancy to its commencement date and derives the six-year cycle position, the RTB registration and renewal deadlines, the Part 4 / Further Part 4 rights dates and rent-review eligibility — surfacing them on one compliance dashboard on web, iOS and Android. The Starter plan covers up to 10 units, with a free 14-day trial and no card required. It's general guidance, not legal advice; confirm the current rules at rtb.ie.