The Residential Tenancies board (RTB) was established as part of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants and to operate a system of tenancy registration. Landlords and tenants may refer disputes to the RTB for resolution.
The board deals with:

• The refund and retention of deposits.
• Alleged breaches of tenancy obligations (on the part of either the landlord or tenant)
• Invalid reasons for terminating a tenancy.
• Determining proper notice periods,
• Tenants vacating without a valid notice.
• Claims for costs and damages (from either party)
• Claims for rent arrears or other charges

The greatest impact of the establishment of the RTB is:

The requirement for landlords to register each tenancy with the RTB (cost €90)

Security of tenure for tenants. After an initial 6 month period a tenant may remain in the property for up to three   and a half years - this has become known as a part 4/6 tenancy.

Tenants are entitled to specified periods of notice depending on how long they have lived in the property.

The following fees are applicable to the registration of tenancies:

• If the tenancy commencement date is on or after the 1st January 2011

€90 per tenancy provided the completed application to register is received by the RTB within one month from the tenancy commencement date.

A late fee of €180 applies where an application to register a tenancy is received more than one month from the tenancy commencement date.

€375 (composite fee) for multiple tenancies in the one building being registered at the same time by the one landlord within one month of the commencement date of the first tenancy. If, in the 12 months following the payment of a composite fee, one of the tenancies included in the set of multiple tenancies ends and a new tenancy is created, the application to register that new tenancy does not have to be accompanied by a fee provided it is made within one month of the commencement of that tenancy.

No fee is payable where two payments in respect of the tenancy have been made to The Residential Tenancies Board in the previous 12 months. No fee is payable for an update of details of a tenancy already registered. The fees have not changed in line with inflation since the PRTB was established in 2004.

The RTB receives information from a number of sources including the Department of Social Protection, Local Authorities and Members of the Public.

The RTB provides information to a number of other Public Sector bodies in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 as the legislation pertaining to the body in question.