Six years, one reset: what a Tenancy of Minimum Duration really commits you to

Six years is a long time to commit to a rent that can only move by 2 per cent a year. That is the trade the Tenancy of Minimum Duration makes, and it is the single most consequential number in the 2026 reform for anyone letting long term.

It is also widely misread. The 6 years is not a lease term you negotiate, not a period the tenant is locked into, and not something you can shorten by agreement. It is a statutory cycle, and its main practical function is to define the one point at which you get to reset.

Here is what the cycle actually does to the economics of a tenancy, when the reset window opens, and what it means for a property you might want to sell inside the 6 years.

What a Tenancy of Minimum Duration is

From 1 March 2026, a new private tenancy is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration of 6 years. It replaces the older Part 4 structure for tenancies created after that date, and it runs in rolling cycles rather than expiring into nothing.

The tenant is not obliged to stay 6 years. They can leave under the normal rules. The duration constrains the landlord, by defining how long the tenancy runs before the terms can be reopened.

The reset, and when it opens

At the end of a 6 year cycle a landlord may reset the rent to market rate. This is the only routine point at which market rent becomes available on a continuing tenancy, which makes it the most valuable date in the arrangement.

Outside that window the rent moves only under the national cap: once every 12 months, by 2 per cent or CPI, whichever is lower. There is one transitional exception, in areas that only became a Rent Pressure Zone within the previous 2 years, where the first review waits 24 months before the normal annual cycle begins.

Resetting at the 6 year point is not automatic and it is not exempt from process. You still serve a notice, still copy the RTB the same day, and still attach 3 comparables from the Rent Register proving the new rent is not above market. Our post on the three comparables rule covers what that evidence has to look like.

The arithmetic of 6 capped years

This is where the cycle earns attention. A rent of EUR 1,800 rising by 2 per cent a year reaches roughly EUR 2,027 after 6 years, an increase of about EUR 227 a month. If market rents in the area rise faster than 2 per cent annually over the same period, and they have in most of Ireland recently, the gap between your rent and the market widens every year of the cycle.

That gap is not lost, exactly. It is deferred to the reset. But it does mean the 6 year point carries real weight, and that missing it, or serving an invalid notice at it, is expensive in a way an ordinary annual review is not.

It also means the rent you set at the start of a tenancy matters more than it used to, because you are living with its trajectory for 6 years. Our rent increase calculator works the annual figures, and the notice checker tells you which pathway applies at any given point.

If your tenancy began before March 2026

Existing tenancies keep their existing terms. They are not converted into 6 year cycles, and critically, a sitting tenancy that began before 1 March 2026 cannot be reset to market rent while it continues.

The national rent cap still applies to those tenancies, so the annual movement is the same 2 per cent or CPI. What differs is the absence of a scheduled reset point. For a long running pre 2026 tenancy the rent simply tracks the cap indefinitely.

That asymmetry is worth understanding before assuming an older tenancy behaves like a new one. It does not, and the difference compounds.

Student accommodation runs differently

Student specific accommodation operates on a 3 year reset cycle rather than 6, and that reset becomes available from 1 March 2029. The shorter cycle reflects how student housing is actually let and turned over.

Purpose built student accommodation in developments that commenced on or after 10 June 2025 also follows CPI with no 2 per cent ceiling, which is a meaningfully different economic position from standard stock. Operators in that category should check both rules together rather than assuming the general regime applies.

What this changes in practice

Three things, for most landlords.

First, the start date of every new tenancy is now a date worth recording carefully, because it sets a 6 year clock you will want to act on precisely. Second, the reset is a scheduled event that deserves the same diary treatment as an annual review, not a vague sense that it comes round eventually. Third, if you may want to sell, the interaction with the large landlord rules matters: a landlord with 4 or more tenancies can no longer end a tenancy simply in order to sell, which our post on the four tenancy line covers in full.

How Rentalize handles this

Rentalize tracks the tenancy start date, the 6 year cycle and the next permitted review date together, so the reset appears as a scheduled event rather than something to remember. Notices generated at the reset carry the market rent pathway and its evidence requirements automatically.

This sits inside rent review software, available across Rentalize Core and Rentalize 360.

If you would like to see how the 6 year cycle is tracked across a portfolio, you can book a 20 minute walkthrough, or check pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration?

Every private tenancy created from 1 March 2026 is a Tenancy of Minimum Duration lasting 6 years, running in rolling cycles. The end of each cycle is the point at which a landlord may reset the rent to market rate.

Does the tenant have to stay for 6 years?

No. The tenant can leave under the normal rules. The duration constrains the landlord by defining how long the tenancy runs before terms can be reopened.

How much can rent rise during the 6 years?

Once every 12 months, by 2 per cent or CPI, whichever is lower. In areas that became a Rent Pressure Zone within the previous 2 years, the first review waits 24 months before the annual cycle begins.

Can a pre 2026 tenancy be reset to market rent?

Not while it continues. Tenancies that began before 1 March 2026 keep their existing terms, remain subject to the national rent cap, and have no scheduled market reset point.

How does this work for student accommodation?

Student specific accommodation runs on a 3 year reset cycle, available from 1 March 2029. Purpose built student accommodation in developments commenced on or after 10 June 2025 also follows CPI with no 2 per cent ceiling.