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Ireland · Rent Control
The RPZ calculator, and what replaced it
Rent Pressure Zones no longer exist. They were abolished on 28 February 2026 and replaced by one national rent cap that applies to every rented home in Ireland. If you came here looking for an RPZ calculator, the rule you need is on this page, and the working calculator is one click away.
RPZs: abolished 1 March 2026
Now: lower of CPI or 2%, nationwide
CPI July 2026: 3.4%
Are Rent Pressure Zones still a thing in Ireland?
No. Rent Pressure Zones ended on 28 February 2026. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 removed the zone system entirely and put a single national rent control in its place from 1 March 2026. There are no designated areas any more, and no separate rules for Dublin, Cork or anywhere else. Every private tenancy in the country now sits under the same cap.
The cap is this: rent can be increased once every 12 months, by the lower of CPI inflation or 2%. With CPI at 3.4% (CSO, July 2026), the binding cap for a standard tenancy today is 2%. Two things changed underneath it. The inflation measure is now the CSO Consumer Price Index, not the EU harmonised index (HICP) that RPZ rules used. And apartments or student accommodation in developments with a commencement notice dated on or after 10 June 2025 follow CPI only, with no 2% ceiling.
What was the RPZ calculator is now simply a rent increase calculator, because the calculation applies everywhere. Ours computes the cap from the official CSO monthly index numbers between your two rent setting dates, which is what the legislation actually refers to, rather than applying a headline annual rate.
What changed on 1 March 2026
The zone system had been running since 2016 and was extended to the entire country on 20 June 2025, which made the designation meaningless: if everywhere is a Rent Pressure Zone, there are no zones. The 2026 Act tidied that up and made the national cap explicit. Here is the before and after.
| Under RPZ rules (to 28 Feb 2026) | National rent control (from 1 Mar 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it applies | Designated Rent Pressure Zones only, extended to all local authority areas from 20 June 2025 | Every private tenancy in Ireland, no designation needed |
| Cap on an increase | Lower of HICP inflation or 2% a year | Lower of CPI inflation or 2% a year |
| Inflation measure | Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) | CSO Consumer Price Index (CPI), for new and existing tenancies |
| Review frequency | Once every 12 months | Once every 12 months, with a 24 month exception noted below |
| New builds | No general exemption | Apartments and student accommodation commenced on or after 10 June 2025 follow CPI only, no 2% cap |
| Proving the rent | No comparables requirement | A market rent reset needs three comparable tenancies from the RTB Rent Register |
| Notice to the RTB | Not required alongside the tenant notice | The notice must be copied to the RTB the same day or it is invalid |
One RPZ rule that is still live
The zones are gone but one piece of RPZ timing survived the change. Where an area became a Rent Pressure Zone within the previous two years, the rent cannot be reviewed until 24 months after the date it was last set or reviewed, rather than the usual 12. Because the nationwide designation took effect on 20 June 2025, this catches every area that was not already a Rent Pressure Zone before that date, and it runs until roughly 20 June 2027. If your property is outside the pre-2025 zones and you are planning a first review since designation, check the 24 month interval before you serve anything. Confirm your specific dates against the RTB before serving a notice.
How Ireland got from zones to a national cap
December 2016
Rent Pressure Zones introduced
Designated areas where rents had risen fastest, initially Dublin and Cork city, capped increases at 4% a year. Areas were added over time as they met the designation test.
December 2021
The cap is tied to inflation
The flat 4% was replaced by the lower of HICP inflation or 2% a year, which is the shape the cap still has today.
20 June 2025
Every local authority area becomes an RPZ
The designation was extended nationwide. This is the date that triggers the 24 month first-review interval for areas that were not already zones.
28 February 2026
Rent Pressure Zones end
The last day of the zone system. Tenancies created before 1 March 2026 keep their existing security of tenure rules, but the rent cap change applies to them too.
1 March 2026
National rent control begins
One cap for the whole country at the lower of CPI or 2%, six year tenancies of minimum duration, the market rent reset pathways, and the three comparables requirement from the RTB Rent Register.
What to do instead of an RPZ check
Checking whether an address sat inside a Rent Pressure Zone used to be the first step in any rent review. It is no longer a question worth asking. These three are.
Work out the cap
The increase is limited by the lower of two figures: 2% of the current rent per year elapsed since it was last set, pro-rata and without compounding, and the actual movement in the CPI index between the two dates. Our rent increase calculator computes both from live CSO index numbers.
Check you are allowed to review yet
Once in any 12 month period, and not at all in the first 12 months of a tenancy, subject to the 24 month interval above. Whether you can reset to market rent at all depends on which pathway the tenancy is on. The rent review notice checker works that out.
Gather three comparables
A market rent reset needs three tenancies from the RTB Rent Register of similar floor area, bedrooms, character and BER, each begun in the last three months, each cited by its Registered Tenancy number.
Rent Pressure Zone questions
Is my area still a Rent Pressure Zone?
No area is. Rent Pressure Zones were abolished on 28 February 2026 and the designation no longer exists anywhere in Ireland. Before that, every local authority area had been designated from 20 June 2025, so for the last eight months of the system the whole country was covered. The rent cap that used to depend on designation now applies nationally regardless of address.
Where is the RPZ calculator now?
There is no longer an RPZ calculator, because there are no zones to check. The calculation it performed still exists and now applies everywhere, so it is simply a rent increase calculator. The RTB publishes an official RTB Rent Calculator, and a printout of its result must be attached to a rent setting or rent review notice. Our rent increase calculator works the figure out from the same CSO index numbers so you can check it before you file.
What is the maximum rent increase in Ireland now?
Once every 12 months, by the lower of CPI inflation or 2%. With CPI at 3.4% (CSO, July 2026), the cap for a standard tenancy is 2%. If the rent has not been reviewed for longer than a year the 2% limb accumulates pro-rata, so 24 months allows up to 4%, but the CPI limb still applies over the same period if it is lower.
Did the abolition of RPZs mean rents can rise freely?
No. The change tightened rent control rather than loosening it. The cap that applied only in designated zones now applies to every tenancy in the country, the notice requirements are stricter, and a landlord resetting to market rent has to prove the figure with three comparable tenancies from the RTB Rent Register. The one direction of loosening is for apartments and student accommodation commenced on or after 10 June 2025, which follow CPI with no 2% ceiling.
Why did the inflation measure change from HICP to CPI?
RPZ rules used the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, the EU comparable measure. From 1 March 2026 the rent cap uses the CSO Consumer Price Index instead, for both new and existing tenancies. The two indices move similarly but not identically, so a review calculated on the wrong index can produce an invalid rent. The legal test is the movement in the index numbers between the date the rent was last set and the date the new rent takes effect, not the headline annual rate.
My tenancy started before March 2026. Which rules apply?
The rent cap applies to you: annual increases are limited to the lower of CPI or 2% whichever the start date. What does not change is security of tenure and the grounds for ending the tenancy, which stay under the pre-2026 rules until a new tenancy begins. A landlord also cannot reset a pre-March 2026 tenancy to market rent while it continues.
Sources: RTB, setting and reviewing private rents from 1 March 2026 and the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026. CPI figures are pulled from the CSO PxStat API and refresh monthly. This page is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your dates and pathway with the RTB before serving a rent review or rent setting notice.
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