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Amendment of section 19 of Principal Act
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3. (1) Section 19 of the Principal Act is amended—
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(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):
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“(4) (a) The setting (in this subsection referred to as the ‘next setting’) of a rent under the tenancy of a dwelling in a rent pressure zone at any time after the commencement of section 3 of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021 shall neither—
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(i) result in such increase in rent as would cause the new rent under the tenancy to exceed the old rent by more than the relevant percentage, nor
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(ii) result in such increase in rent as would cause the ratio of the new rent under the tenancy to the old rent to exceed the ratio of the current HICP value to the previous HICP value.
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(b) In this subsection—
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‘current HICP value’ means the HICP value published by the Board in accordance with subsection (4C) relating—
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(a) to the month immediately preceding the month in which the next setting takes place, or
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(b) in a case in which the HICP value relating to the month first-mentioned in paragraph (a) is not so published on or before the next setting, to the month immediately preceding that month;
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‘new rent’ means, in relation to the tenancy of a dwelling, the rent under the tenancy set at the next setting;
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‘old rent’ means, in relation to the tenancy of a dwelling—
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(a) the rent under that tenancy set at the previous setting, or
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(b) where that tenancy is a new tenancy, the rent under the tenancy (immediately preceding the new tenancy) of that dwelling set at the previous setting;
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‘previous HICP value’ means—
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(a) in relation to a previous setting that took place before the commencement of section 3 of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021, the HICP value published by the Board in accordance with subsection (4C) relating to the month in which the previous setting took place,
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(b) in relation to a previous setting that takes place on or after such commencement—
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(i) the HICP value published by the Board in accordance with subsection (4C) relating to the month immediately preceding the month in which the previous setting took place, or
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(ii) in circumstances where the HICP value referred to in subparagraph (i) was not so published by the time the previous setting took place, the HICP value so published relating to the month immediately preceding the month first-mentioned in that subparagraph;
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‘previous setting’ means, in relation to the next setting of a rent under the tenancy of a dwelling, the most recent setting (before the next setting) of the rent under—
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(a) that tenancy of the dwelling, or
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(b) where the next setting relates to a new tenancy of that dwelling, the tenancy of that dwelling immediately preceding the new tenancy;
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‘relevant percentage’ means, in relation to the setting of the rent under the tenancy of a dwelling—
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(a) 2 per cent of the old rent in respect of each year that has elapsed since the previous setting, and
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(b) as respects any additional period that has elapsed between the previous setting and the next setting that is shorter than a year, such percentage as bears to 2 per cent the same proportion that that period bears to a year.
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(c) For the purposes of this subsection, a tenancy immediately precedes a new tenancy if—
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(i) it expired at any time—
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(I) during the period of 2 years prior to the creation or coming into being of the new tenancy, or
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(II) in the case of a new tenancy to which subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (5) applies, during the period of one year prior to the creation or coming into being of the new tenancy,
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and
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(ii) no other tenancy was created or came into being during the period between the expiration of that tenancy and the creation, or coming into being, of the new tenancy.”,
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(b) the deletion of subsections (4A) and (4B),
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(c) in subsection (4C), by the substitution, in paragraph (a), of “subsection (4)” for “the method set out in subsection (4B)”,
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(d) in subsection (4D), by—
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(i) the substitution of “subsections (4) and (4C)” for “subsections (4A) to (4C)”,
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(ii) the insertion, in paragraph (b), of “and” after “subsection (4C)(b),”,
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(iii) the substitution, in paragraph (c), of “table.” for “table, and”, and
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(iv) the deletion of paragraph (d),
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(e) in subsection (5), by the substitution of “Subsection (4) does not apply” for “Subsections (4) and (4A) do not apply”,
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(f) in subsection (6), by the substitution of “subsections (3) and (4)” for “subsections (3), (4) and (4A)”,
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(g) in subsection (6A), by the deletion of “or, as the case may be, (4A)”, and
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(h) in subsection (7), by the deletion of the definition of “new date”.
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(2) The Minister shall—
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(a) not earlier than 12 months and not later than 15 months after the commencement of this section, conduct a review of the operation of subsection (4) of section 19 of the Principal Act, and
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(b) not later than 3 months after the commencement of that review, make a report in writing to each House of the Oireachtas of his or her findings and conclusions resulting from that review.
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