Section 39 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 – Termination on tenant’s death

Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (RTA 2004) · PART 4 – Security of Tenure › Chapter 3 – Termination of Part 4 tenancy

Revised Act prepared by the Law Reform Commission, updated to 1 March 2026. Amendments made after that date are not included.

(1)Subject to subsections (2) , (4) and (6), a Part 4 tenancy shall terminate on the death of the tenant.

(2)Where the 2 conditions specified in subsection (3) are satisfied—

(a) subsection (1) does not apply, and

(b) the Part 4 tenancy concerned, accordingly, continues in being, subject to the other provisions of this Chapter, for the period for which it would otherwise have continued in being had the tenant concerned not died.

(3)Those conditions are—

(a) the dwelling, at the time of the death of the tenant concerned, was occupied by—

(i) a spouse or civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 of the tenant,

(ii) a person who was not a spouse of the tenant but who was the tenant’s cohabitant within the meaning of section 172 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 and lived with the tenant in the dwelling for a period of at least 6 months ending on the date of the tenant’s death,

(iii) a child, stepchild or foster child of the tenant, or a person adopted by the tenant under the Adoption Acts 1952 to 1998, being in each case aged 18 years or more, or

(iv) a parent of the tenant,

and

(b) one or more than one of the foregoing persons elects in writing to become a tenant or tenants of the dwelling.

(4)This section is subject to Chapter 6; without limiting the generality of this subsection, subsections (2) and (3) are not to be read as derogating from the operation of Chapter 6 in circumstances where a person referred to in subsection (3) is a multiple tenant (within the meaning of that Chapter) of the dwelling concerned.

(5)Irrespective of the number of instances of the application to the same dwelling of subsection (2) (by reason of a series of deaths of tenants), the Part 4 tenancy concerned shall not continue in being any longer than it would otherwise have continued in being had the first of those deaths not occurred.

(6)In respect of a dwelling the subject of a tenancy referred to in section 3(4) (inserted by section 3 of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015), a person to whom subsection (3)(a) applies shall not elect, under subsection (3)(b), to become a tenant, or tenants, of such dwelling unless—

(a) in the case of a dwelling referred to in section 3(4)(a), he or she is a member of a household referred to in section 3(4)(a), or

(b) in the case of a dwelling referred to in section 3(4)(b), he or she is a member of a household referred to in section 3(4)(b).

Official source: revisedacts.lawreform.ie · Version: 2026-03-01 · Full text · Contents

Provisions referred to

Section 3Application of Act

Other provisions in this part

Text according to the official source. Only the official publication is legally binding.