Irish landlord compliance: RTB, BER and gas

Small Irish landlords rarely miss compliance because they do not care. They miss it because the dates sit in three places — the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), a Building Energy Rating (BER) assessor, a gas installer — and none of them live in the same diary as the rent.

Not legal advice

This is not legal advice, tax advice, or official guidance. Landlord obligations in Ireland change. Exemptions exist. Registration, energy rating, and safety rules are set by statute and by the bodies that administer them — not by TenureFolio.

Before you rely on a date, check the current position with the RTB (rtb.ie), the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (seai.ie), and, for gas work, a registered installer. If you are unsure whether a rule applies, take professional advice.

TenureFolio does not file RTB registrations, issue BER certificates, or certify gas appliances. It only tracks dates you record. A reminder in the product is not proof that you have complied.

Three dates that do not share a calendar

A signed check-in inventory helps you show starting condition if a tenancy ends in a deposit argument. Compliance dates are a different job: they sit while the tenancy is running.

• RTB registration is typically an annual rhythm, tied to the tenancy rather than the calendar year.
• BER is a long-lived certificate that matters most when you offer a dwelling for let.
• Gas safety, where the dwelling has gas appliances, is a servicing and records habit — not a one-off PDF, and not a UK “CP12” checklist.

If you only look at these items at move-in, you will remember BER and forget the RTB renewal a year later. Paper, a spreadsheet, or software all work; the anniversary should be as visible as the rent due date.

RTB tenancy registration and renewal

Private residential tenancies in Ireland are registered with the RTB, on the RTB’s own service — not through a landlord app.

What to diary:

• When a new tenancy starts, register it with the RTB using the process and timelines on rtb.ie. Do not guess a deadline from memory or take fee amounts from a blog post.
• Store the registration date, the tenancy start date, and the RTB reference against that property and tenancy.
• Treat registration as renewable. For most private tenancies, landlords are expected to re-register each year. Check on rtb.ie how the Board currently counts that anniversary — typically from the tenancy start, not the calendar year. If you enter an initial date in TenureFolio, it can show a calculated next-renewal date. Enter the date that matches the RTB’s current rule. The display is a reminder, not a ruling.
• Work backwards from the anniversary. Give yourself weeks, not a weekend. Renew on the RTB site, then update the date you keep on file.

If a renewal has already lapsed, deal with it on rtb.ie. A diary that says “overdue” is not the same as being registered. Fees and the effect of a lapse are set by the RTB and by law — they change.

Landlord BER in Ireland

A BER is the energy label for a building. In Ireland it is typically required when a dwelling is offered for let (and when offered for sale), subject to exemptions and advertising rules at the time. TenureFolio does not issue BERs.

What to diary:

• Before you advertise a letting, confirm whether a BER is required and whether the certificate you hold is still in date. Certificates are commonly valid for ten years from issue, unless the building has been altered in a way that needs a new rating. Confirm the current rules on seai.ie rather than assuming.
• Store the expiry date, the BER number, and who produced it.
• Book an assessor early if the certificate will expire during a marketing window. Start from seai.ie for how to find a registered assessor.
• Keep the certificate where you can produce it, not only in an old email.

Gas safety where there are gas appliances

Ireland is not the UK. Do not copy a British annual landlord gas safety certificate (often called a CP12) and assume it is the Irish statutory process.

If the property has gas appliances or a gas installation, keep them in a safe, maintained condition and use a registered installer. Housing standards and carbon monoxide alarms sit in the same picture — check the current official requirements. This article does not list them or treat any Irish report as a UK-style annual form.

What to diary:

• List the appliances (boiler, hob, fire) per property.
• Keep the last service or safety-check date, plus any report the installer left.
• Put the next service in the calendar on the interval the installer recommends, or sooner if a tenant reports a fault.
• Store installer details so you are not searching in January.

If a property has no gas, record that fact. Empty is not the same as “not applicable”. TenureFolio can store a gas-safety date you enter; it does not inspect appliances or replace a registered installer.

What to store on each property

Keep one record per property with at least:

Update the record when you renew. A stale date is how RTB renewal slips.

A year-round diary (habits, not statute)

These are working buffers, not legal deadlines.

Every month. Glance at every property. Confirm live tenancies still match the RTB, and that no gas or BER date is about to arrive without a booking.

When you decide to let. Check BER before the listing goes live. Service gas appliances that will be in use. Prepare the check-in inventory for move-in day.

When a tenancy starts. Register on the RTB site. Write the dates into your record the same day. Diary the anniversary immediately — that is the renewal most often missed.

Roughly 90 days before a BER expiry. If you still intend to let, contact a registered assessor.

Roughly 60 days before an RTB anniversary. Complete the renewal on the RTB service, then update your own record.

When a gas service is due. Book a registered installer, file the report, put the next date with RTB and BER.

When a tenancy ends. Follow current RTB guidance for that registration, and do not leave a live reminder for a finished tenancy. Run a check-out if you need a condition comparison.

Once a year. Reconcile every property, live tenancy, and certificate.

How TenureFolio can help

TenureFolio is for Irish DIY landlords who already do the official steps themselves.

On each property you can record RTB, gas, and BER dates you enter. From an initial RTB date, the product can show a calculated next-renewal date. A dashboard health strip summarises overdue, due soon, up to date, and not set. Email alerts can fire for those dates; a monthly digest sits alongside them as a calmer overview.

The health strip and deadline email alerts are on Starter and above. Free accounts see an upgrade prompt rather than the full strip and those alerts.

It will not register the tenancy, talk to the RTB, commission a BER, or pass a gas appliance. Those remain your steps, on official channels.

To keep those dates next to the tenancy evidence, create an account and enter them on the property. The legal work still happens on rtb.ie and with your assessor and installer.

Official starting points

• Residential Tenancies Board — tenancy registration and renewals: https://www.rtb.ie
• Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland — BER and assessors: https://www.seai.ie

If a process on those sites differs from this article, follow the official source.