Overholding in Ireland — What It Means and What the RTB Decides

What is overholding and when does it apply?

Overholding happens when a tenancy has validly ended — the landlord served a valid notice of termination, the notice period ran out — and you're still in the property. Under the Residential Tenancies Act (the “Act”), a landlord can bring a dispute for unlawful detention (overholding) and the RTB can award damages.

This is not the same as being served a notice of termination and deciding not to leave — at least not immediately. The crucial word is “validly”. If the notice wasn't valid, you haven't overholded. You've exercised your right to remain pending the dispute.

How overholding starts

Overholding begins — technically — on the day after the termination date stated in a valid notice. If the RTB later finds the notice was invalid, the overholding claim fails. If the RTB finds the notice was valid, the overholding period runs from that termination date, and damages are calculated from there.

The median overholding period in the corpus was data not yet available — coming in our next release. Some cases involved longer periods where tenants remained in properties for months while disputes were ongoing.

Overholding is not the same as an unlawful termination

If you believe your notice of termination is invalid, the right response is to file an RTB dispute — not to simply refuse to leave and say nothing. Staying in a property under a potentially invalid notice, while disputing that notice at the RTB, is legally different from overholding. Filing a dispute is the critical step that marks the distinction.

What the RTB awards in overholding cases

When the RTB finds overholding occurred, it awards the landlord damages for the unlawful occupation.

• Average damages in the corpus: €5,684
• Median damages: €3,339
• Average daily rate used in calculations: €data not yet available — coming in our next release per day
• Maximum award: €96,400

How damages are calculated

Damages in overholding cases are calculated on a daily rate roughly equivalent to the daily rental value of the property. If your rent was €2,000 per month, the daily rate is approximately €66. If you overholded for 60 days, the theoretical exposure is around €4,000. In practice, the RTB also considers the landlord's actual loss — whether they lost a new tenancy offer, whether they incurred costs.

The maximum award in the dataset arose in a case involving an extended overholding period in a high-value property where the landlord demonstrated a lost sale.

When overholding claims fail

Overholding claims don't automatically succeed. In the corpus, tenants succeeded fully in 4.6% of cases and partially in 7.9% of cases. Here's why some overholding claims fail:

If the original notice was invalid

This is the most important escape route in overholding cases. If your landlord serves you with an overholding claim, look carefully at the underlying notice of termination. If that notice was defective — wrong notice period, invalid ground, incorrect form, defective service — the overholding claim falls with it. In 19.1% of overholding cases in the corpus, the tenant successfully challenged the underlying notice.

If the tenancy hadn't actually ended

Sometimes disputes arise about whether the tenancy was still current. If you continued paying rent and the landlord continued accepting it after the stated termination date, the RTB may find that the tenancy was not in fact ended.

If there are counterclaims

Where a tenant has counterclaims — for conditions breaches, for unlawful conduct by the landlord — these don't eliminate the overholding liability but can affect the net result. Adjudicators can set off counterclaims against overholding damages in appropriate cases.

What you can do if you're being accused of overholding

File a dispute about the underlying notice

If you believe the notice of termination you received was invalid, file an RTB dispute immediately. The 28-day window for challenging a notice is strict. Filing a notice validity dispute while you're still in the property is the clearest way to establish that you are not overholding — you are exercising your statutory right to have the matter determined.

Don't just refuse to leave and say nothing

Silent refusal to leave is the worst position. If you're staying because you believe the notice is defective, say so — to the RTB, in writing, with a dispute reference. The distinction between “overholding” and “disputing a defective notice while remaining pending determination” matters enormously to the outcome.

If you're staying because you genuinely have nowhere to go, contact Threshold (threshold.ie) or your local authority's homeless services. The RTB's process is not affected by personal circumstances in terms of liability, but finding a resolution quickly is in your interest.

Overholding cases: year by year

Overholding cases have risen sharply since 2023 as termination volumes increased. The jump in 2024 reflects the increase in notices of termination from 2022–23 working through the system — and the Q1 2026 surge will continue to drive further growth in this category.