Section 50 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 – Entitlement of multiple occupant to benefit from Part 4 tenancy

Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (RTA 2004) · PART 4 – Security of Tenure › Chapter 6 – Rules governing operation of Part in cases of multiple occupants

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

(1)Subsection (2) applies unless the multiple tenant concerned benefits, by virtue of the preceding Chapters of this Part, from the protection of the Part 4 tenancy on its coming into existence.

(2)A multiple tenant who was in occupation of a dwelling immediately before the coming into existence of a Part 4 tenancy in respect of it shall, on his or her having been in occupation of the dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months (and that tenancy still subsists), benefit from the protection of that tenancy; accordingly the rights, restrictions and obligations under this Part shall, on and from the expiry of that period of 6 months, apply in relation to that multiple tenant as they apply in relation to the multiple tenant whose continuous occupation gave rise to the Part 4 tenancy's existence.

(3)Any person who the landlord accepts as a tenant of a dwelling on, or subsequent to, a Part 4 tenancy coming into existence in respect of it, shall, on his or her having been in occupation of the dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months (and that tenancy still subsists), benefit from the protection of that tenancy; accordingly, the rights, restrictions and obligations under this Part shall, on and from the expiry of that period of 6 months, apply in relation to that person as they apply in relation to the multiple tenant whose continuous occupation gave rise to the Part 4 tenancy's existence.

(4)The reference in subsection (3) to a landlord's accepting a person as a tenant is a reference to his or her accepting a person as a tenant—

(a) whether as a replacement for any of the existing multiple tenants or as an additional tenant to them, and

(b) whether or not the person was immediately before that acceptance a licensee in occupation of the dwelling.

(5)For the purpose of reckoning the continuous period of occupation referred to in subsections (2) and (3), any period of continuous occupation by the person concerned of the dwelling as a licensee (whether that period begins before, on or after the Part 4 tenancy came into existence) may be counted with any continuous period of occupation by that person of the dwelling as a tenant that follows on immediately from it.

(6)For the purpose of, amongst other things, ensuring that the distinction that exists between licences and tenancies does not operate to frustrate the objectives of this Part in cases to which this Chapter applies, subsections (7) and (8) are enacted.

(7)A person who is lawfully in occupation of the dwelling concerned as a licensee of the tenant or the multiple tenants, as the case may be, during the subsistence of a Part 4 tenancy may, subject to section 3B(d) and subsection (7A), request the landlord of the dwelling to allow him or her to become a tenant of the dwelling.

(7A) Subsection (7) shall not apply where the person in lawful occupation of the dwelling concerned is a temporary protection beneficiary within the meaning of Part 2 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022.

(8)The landlord may not unreasonably refuse to accede to such a request; if the request is acceded to—

(a) an acknowledgement in writing by the landlord that the requester has become a tenant of the landlord suffices for the purpose,

(b) the requester shall hold the dwelling—

(i) on the same terms, or as appropriately modified, as those on which the existing tenant or multiple tenants hold the dwelling (other than terms comprising the rights, restrictions and obligations which arise by virtue of a Part 4 tenancy being in existence in respect of the dwelling),

(ii) upon (if such be the case) subsection (3) being satisfied in respect of the requester, subject to the same rights, restrictions and obligations as those subject to which the multiple tenant whose continuous occupation gave rise to the Part 4 tenancy’s existence holds the dwelling.

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

Provisions referred to

Section 3BApplication of Act to dwellings referred to in section 3(4): supplemental provisions

Provisions referring to this one

Other provisions in this part

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