Laois has most expensive rent costs in the midlands

Rents in Laois rose by 7.8 % in a year putting the county in the top ten most expensive rental counties in Ireland.   

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)’s new figures for the first three months of the year reveal that average rent in Laois is now €1,069, up from €992 for the same period last year. Rents in Laois are now the highest in the midlands and more expensive than Waterford City, where the figure is €1,054. The RTB figures cover the period from January to March 2022.

Independently analysed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), the RTB Rent Index is based on the total number of private tenancies newly registered with RTB each quarter. The Index provides rental indicators based on actual rents paid in the private rental sector in Ireland.

Although Laois renters will take little comfort from the statistics, Laois remains below the national average of  €1,460 per month and below the yearly increase of 9.2%.

Laois was one of fourteen counties to have standardised average rents in new tenancies above €1,000 per month in Q1 2022. The others were Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.

The highest standardised average rent in new tenancies for Q1 2022 was in Dublin at €2,015 per month while the lowest monthly rents were in Leitrim, where the standardised average rent in new tenancies stood at €734 per month.

RTB Director Niall Byrne said: “The latest Rent Index, which is based on new tenancies registered with the RTB in the first quarter of 2022, shows continued growth in rents nationally with a yearly increase of 9.2%. We also see a continued fall in the number of tenancies that were registered with the RTB in Q1 2022. These results are likely still indirectly impacted by COVID-19 public health measures along with constraints in supply and tenants choosing to stay longer in their existing tenancies. In reading the Index, it is also important to note that these results only provide us with a snapshot into a small proportion of the private rental sector in Ireland.”

Mr Byrne said: “The RTB would like to remind landlords that annual registration was introduced on 4 April 2022 requiring landlords to register their tenancies on a yearly basis.” 

Call for rent freeze on housing by Laois TD Brian Stanley

He also noted “there were new changes to rental legislation which took effect on 6 July 2022 in relation to how a landlord can end a tenancy. To find out what these changes mean for landlords and tenants, please visit our website at www.rtb.ie.”