IPOA says smaller, local landlords are under growing pressure as institutional investors take growing share of Ireland’s private rental market
Small and medium-sized local landlords require urgent support in Budget 2027 to remain in Ireland’s private rental market, the Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA) has warned.
The IPOA is calling on Government to use next week’s Budget to level the playing field in the rental sector, warning that continued pressure on small and medium-sized landlords risks accelerating the shift towards a market dominated by large institutional investors.
Latest Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) figures show that landlords with four or more tenancies now provide 55.7% of all private rental tenancies, despite representing just 11.8% of landlords. Landlords with 100 or more tenancies now account for 15.6% of private tenancies, the highest level recorded in the current RTB series.
The shift is particularly pronounced in Dublin, where landlords with 100 or more tenancies provide almost 30% of private tenancies, compared with just 3.9% outside Dublin.
The figures come as DNG reported that investors accounted for 24% of Dublin property sales between July and September, up from 20% in each of the previous two quarters.
IPOA Chair Mary Conway said:
“The Government has introduced major changes to the rental market this year, and smaller, local landlords have had to absorb new rules, additional compliance requirements and growing taxation pressures.
Budget 2027 now needs to recognise the other side of the equation. If we want smaller and medium-sized landlords to continue providing homes, we need to make it viable for them to remain in the market. If Government wants smaller and local landlords to stay, Budget 2027 needs to give them a reason to stay.”
The IPOA is calling for a targeted package of measures in Budget 2027 to retain existing rental supply, including:
- Treat landlords as businesses for tax purposes by allowing full deductibility of legitimate expenses, enabling pension contributions and retirement relief, permitting full loss offset, abolishing the close company surcharge, and raising the definition of a large landlord to 10 tenancies.
- Reform Capital Gains Tax by introducing a 0% CGT rate for sales of rental properties with tenants in situ where the property remains in rental use, extending relief to transfers to other landlords or family members who continue the rental business, and recognising policy-driven capital losses.
- Improve cash flow and reinvestment capacity by reducing the capital allowance write-off period to five years and broadening the range of qualifying capital and operational expenditure.
- Enhance and extend existing rental income supports by extending the Residential Premises Rental Income Relief from 2027 to 2032, increasing it to €2,800 annually on €14,000 of rental income taxed at 20%, and removing claw back provisions where the property remains in rental use.
The IPOA says these should be viewed as supply-side measures rather than tax concessions, aimed at retaining existing rental accommodation and supporting continued investment in the sector.
The IPOA also said Government should not assume that the fall in Notices of Termination between Q1 and Q2 means the underlying pressures facing landlords have disappeared. There were 4,031 Notices of Termination in Q2, with 50.2% relating to landlords intending to sell, bringing the estimated first-half total to approximately 11,100.