Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. How does a landlord commence a rent review and when is that process legally deemed to have started? If this subsection envisages that a landlord can commence a rent review on a different date from that on which he or she sends notice to the tenant, it presumably must be an earlier date. Is it the date on which the landlord begins the compilation of information needed to provide the notice to be served on the tenant? That notice requires the landlord to state his or her opinion that the new rent is not greater than the market rent, having regard to letting values of similar dwellings, in particular, the rents sought for three similar dwellings in the area.

The Minister will know what is required in the notice and in the advertisement placed in the four weeks prior to the notice in the local press.

This was an issue raised this morning and I am trying to get my head around it. Does a rent review commence when the landlord starts checking rents or when the landlord starts to look at the local papers three weeks in advance? If a landlord regularly keeps abreast of the state of the market, is that when the notice commences? What is to stop landlords from saying that they are constantly keeping the rents under review? Is it possible to fix any particular date as being the date on which a landlord commenced the review? The net question I have relates to the term "rent review" used, which is not defined in this Bill or in the amendments. When in law will that rent review be deemed to have commenced?

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