9th January, 2021
Level 5 restrictions recommenced on the 30th December 2020. Any time there is a 5km restriction imposed on people’s movements, in line with public health restrictions, the moratorium on evictions will automatically kick-in.
- Level 5 does not restrict the serving of a Notice of Termination. There may be a revised date on the termination but you may serve it giving the normal required period of time. The additional time resulting from the increased protection will be added to the notice after it is served.
- Existing tenancy protections mean that a tenant cannot be made to leave their home during the Level 5 period except in limited circumstances. These are where they commit a breach which relates to:
o Anti-Social Behaviour;
o Behaviour that invalidates the landlord’s insurance; or
o Use of the dwelling other than as a residential accommodation unit, without the landlord’s written consent;
o Behaviour that threatens the dwelling.
- The duration of any Emergency Period will not count as part of any termination notice period given. Effectively, all Notice of Terminations served before or during an Emergency Period are paused.
- A revised termination date will apply and shall factor in the Emergency Period and an extra 10-day grace period. Effectively, a revised termination date will be calculated by counting:
• all, or the remainder, as may be appropriate, of the original termination notice given;
• all, or the remainder, as may be appropriate, of the Emergency Period; and
• the 10-day grace period.
- To enable a limited functioning of the housing and residential tenancy market during this time Minister Darragh O’Brien outlined that online viewings will be the default approach to viewing property for rental with a physical viewing only permissible at the point where a tenancy agreement is being entered.