Vestry Limited Partnership Fined €26,000 for Rent Pressure Zone Breaches

Vestry Limited Partnership, a major landlord in Ireland, has been fined €26,000 for failing to comply with rent pressure zone requirements across four properties in Dublin, Galway, and Kildare. The Dublin-registered company received two €10,000 fines, a €6,000 fine, and a written caution. These sanctions, from autumn last year, were confirmed by a court order and published by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

Vestry Limited Partnership was established to acquire and let residential investment properties in Ireland and is linked to hundreds of properties nationwide. Annual rent increases in Ireland’s rent pressure zones are capped at 2 percent. While these restrictions apply to old tenancies, a new regime introduced last March allows rents to be reset to market rates after a six-year tenancy term, with a 2 percent annual cap during the contract. This new rule applies only to tenancies created after March 1st of this year.

The RTB has powers under the Residential Tenancies Act to investigate breaches and seek court sanctions. Other significant sanctions this year include a €15,000 fine for Davy Property Holdings for a breach in Tallaght, Dublin, and a €12,812 fine for Nigel Tuite for failing to register a tenancy and other rent pressure zone violations. CER Ireland SA Dev Ltd was fined €11,000 for seeking excessive payment to secure 30 student apartments in Dublin.

These sanctions coincide with new RTB data showing average rent for new tenancies reached €1,755 in Q1 this year, a 5 percent increase year-on-year. Existing tenancy rents grew 4.4 percent to €1,503. Landlords with 100 or more tenancies now account for 15.1 percent of all private rentals, rising to 29 percent in Dublin.