Where the rent comes from
A cost rental home is a specific legal thing. The owner (an approved housing body, the LDA or a council) applies to the Minister to have the dwelling designated as cost rental. The application has to show an initial maximum rent worked out so that, over a stated period of not less than 40 years, the rents will repay the cost of acquiring or building the home, the financing costs including interest and a limited equity return, letting and management, maintenance, a sinking fund for future repairs and a contingency. That is the “cost” in cost rental. There is no line for developer profit.
The designation is sealed by the Minister and registered against the title in the Land Registry or Registry of Deeds, so it binds whoever owns the home for the minimum period. The 25% below market figure is not in the Act; it is a condition of the State funding (the Cost Rental Equity Loan for approved housing bodies, the STAR scheme and the LDA’s own funding) and it is checked at designation against market rents for similar homes in the area. In practice the discount on advertised schemes in 2026 has ranged from about 25% to 40%; the rents guide has the actual figures by scheme.
How increases work
Section 33 of the Act takes cost rental out of the private-market rent rules entirely (Rent Pressure Zones and the national caps that followed them do not apply) and replaces them with one rule. At any review, the new rent may not exceed the previous rent plus the change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices published by the CSO since the rent was last set. Not market rent, not the landlord’s costs, not a fixed percentage. HICP.
The mechanics are strict. No review in the first 12 months of the tenancy and no more than one in any 12 months after that. If the tenancy agreement is silent, the review date is the anniversary of the tenancy. The landlord must serve a written rent review notice, no earlier than two weeks before and no later than four weeks after the review date, stating the new rent, the date it takes effect, a confirmation that it is within the HICP ceiling, and your right to refer it to the RTB within 28 days. The new rent is not payable until 28 days after you receive the notice, or after the RTB decides if you dispute it.
What this means in money: HICP for Ireland ran close to 2% a year through 2025, so a €1,400 rent would move to about €1,428. The figure is a ceiling: a landlord can increase by less than HICP, or not at all.
What the landlord cannot do
A cost rental tenancy is a normal residential tenancy under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, registered with the RTB, with access to RTB dispute resolution, and security of tenure after six months. Then section 32 of the 2021 Act removes four of the grounds a private landlord can use to end a tenancy:
- the landlord intends to sell,
- the landlord or a family member needs the home,
- substantial refurbishment,
- change of use.
Those four are the reasons most Irish tenants lose a home. What is left: you break the tenancy (arrears, damage, anti-social behaviour, breaching the agreement) or the home no longer suits your household size. Providers describe the result as a tenancy of unlimited duration and the Housing Agency’s phrase is “you may continue to rent your home for as long as you want”.
Two things you cannot do either. You cannot assign or sub-let a cost rental tenancy; any attempt is void. And adding or removing a named tenant (a partner moving in, a flatmate moving out) needs the landlord’s written consent under the eligibility regulations, so tell the provider before it happens.
When your circumstances change
Eligibility is tested once, at application. If your household income later goes over €66,000 or €59,000, nothing happens: you stay and the rent is unchanged. The Act does not provide for income re-assessment and providers do not do it.
The other direction is covered too. Section 34 says HAP can be paid in respect of a cost rental home once a member of the household has been a tenant there for more than six months. So if you lose your job a year in and qualify for social housing support, you can apply for HAP on your cost rental home rather than move. Section 35 adds that a cost rental tenancy is not itself social housing support, which matters if you are also on a council list.
Deposit, furniture, the practical bits
The deposit is one month’s rent minus €50. Homes come unfurnished, usually with white goods (fridge-freezer, oven and hob, washer-dryer or dishwasher), flooring and blinds, and you set up electricity, broadband and so on yourself. Rent is paid monthly to the provider or its managing agent. Pets, parking and bike storage are set per scheme, so read the advert.
Can you ever buy it?
No. There is no tenant purchase route for cost rental and the designation runs for at least 40 years against the title. The LDA and the approved housing bodies say the homes are intended to stay cost rental indefinitely. If ownership is the goal, the parallel schemes are affordable purchase and the First Home Scheme; the equity share guide explains the first and the purchase calculator tests both against your income.
Cost rental against the alternatives
| Cost rental | Social housing / HAP | Private rental | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Net income under €66,000 Dublin / €59,000 elsewhere, not on HAP | Income under social housing limits (€30,000 to €40,000 net, by council) | Anyone |
| How rent is set | Cost of the home over 40+ years, at least 25% under market | Differential rent, a share of household income | Market, set by landlord |
| Rent increases | Only by HICP inflation, once a year at most | Moves with your income | Capped by the private tenancy rules |
| Landlord can end it for a sale or family use | No | No | Yes, with notice |
| If your income rises | You stay, rent unchanged | Rent rises; above a threshold you may have to leave | Nothing changes |
| Can you buy it | No | Sometimes (tenant purchase scheme) | If the landlord sells to you |
Who builds it, and how much exists
Cost rental is young. The first 684 homes were let in 2022; by the end of 2025 there were 6,141, with 2,347 delivered in 2025 alone. The split by provider:
| Provider, 2022 to 2025 | Homes |
|---|---|
| Approved housing bodies (Tuath, Clúid, Respond, others) | 3,509 |
| Land Development Agency | 2,017 |
| Local authorities | 349 |
| Cost Rental Tenant in Situ (Housing Agency) | 266 |
| All cost rental | 6,141 |
Three funding channels sit behind those numbers. Approved housing bodies borrow from the State under the Cost Rental Equity Loan and build or buy directly. The STAR scheme (Secure Tenancy Affordable Rental, €750 million, opened August 2023) puts up to €175,000 per home in Dublin and €150,000 elsewhere, plus €25,000 for sustainability standards, to bring about 4,000 homes to cost rental. And the LDA works two ways: developing State land itself, and Project Tosaigh, where it funds a housebuilder to finish a stalled or unviable private scheme and takes the homes as cost rental. Tosaigh produced the LDA’s early output, including the 621-apartment round of January 2024 at Barnwell Point in Hansfield, The Quarter in Citywest, Dun Óir in Kilternan and Harpur Lane in Leixlip, then Cookstown Gateway in Tallaght (184) and The Crossings in Adamstown (392). By mid-2026 the LDA had 2,367 cost rental homes let and about 6,500 homes under construction, with direct delivery taking over from Tosaigh as the main channel. The providers guide covers how each one takes applications.
What tenants say
The LDA surveyed its 1,578 cost rental households in February 2026 and 335 replied. 94.5% would recommend cost rental to a friend. The three things they valued most were the rent (74.6%), the location (61.2%) and a new energy-efficient home (48.4%). 56.1% expect to stay more than five years. On rent, 38.5% said they pay more than in their previous home and 35.5% less; the survey’s reading is that many had been sharing or over-crowded before. Most households were two adults, with or without children, aged 25 to 44, and over 70% had moved in from a different area.
The short version
- Rent is set from the cost of the home over 40+ years and must come in at least 25% under market.
- Increases can only follow HICP inflation, once a year, with a notice you can challenge at the RTB.
- The landlord cannot end the tenancy to sell, to house family, to refurbish or to change use.
- Income is checked once. Go over the limit later and you stay; fall on hard times and HAP is possible after six months.
- You will never own it. Apply anyway if you fit, and set an alert so you hear when the next scheme in your county opens.
Sources: Affordable Housing Act 2021, sections 29 to 35 (irishstatutebook.ie); citizensinformation.ie, Cost rental housing (edited 18 March 2026); Housing Agency, Cost Rental; gov.ie, Cost Rental homes (STAR scheme terms); LDA Cost Rental Survey 2026 and LDA mid-year update 2026; LDA and RTÉ announcements of Project Tosaigh schemes, January 2024 onwards. Social housing income limits are the 2023 national bands and vary by council.