How to find a flat in Dublin as a newcomer

How do you find a flat to rent in Dublin?

This guide is about renting, not buying. The search has six steps: set a budget, prepare your file, search, view, put down a holding deposit and sign. Rules for landlords below are Irish rules. The market is tight: Daft.ie reported fewer than 1,150 homes available to rent in Dublin on 1 August 2026, down 18% over the year, while market rents in Dublin in June were 6.5% higher than a year before. In the rest of the country availability rose 40% (Laois Nationalist reporting Daft.ie’s Q2 2026 report, 24 August 2026). Those are secondary figures, since we could not open Daft.ie’s own page.

Step 1: What can you afford?

Daft.ie’s report puts an average two-bedroom apartment at EUR 2,204 a month nationwide. We found no sourced Dublin-only average, so we give none. Budget for the upfront payment too. Our arithmetic: two months’ rent, the most a landlord may ask for, is EUR 4,408 on the national two-bedroom average.

Citizens Information, the public information service, suggests asking yourself before you view: how much can you afford in rent and bills, what is the standard of the accommodation, what is its Building Energy Rating (BER), how close is it to work and how long will you stay (Citizens Information).

Step 2: What does your file need?

We found no official list of the documents a Dublin landlord asks a newcomer for, so ask in writing. Two official facts help you plan:

• An address is the key to your first paperwork. A tenancy agreement is among the documents accepted as proof of address for a PPS number, if dated within 3 months, and a hotel’s confirmation of address also counts (Citizens Information, PPS number). Registration for the Irish Residence Permit also asks for proof of address (ISD).
• You cannot apply for a PPS number before you arrive. So a landlord who insists on one from a person still abroad is asking for something that does not exist yet.

Landlords cannot discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds the Equal Status Acts list, which include race, gender, civil status, family status, religion, age and disability (Citizens Information).

Step 3: Where do people search?

Citizens Information says most rooms, flats, apartments and houses to rent are advertised on accommodation websites, where you can search for a type of home and set up alerts. It also names newspapers, shop adverts, word of mouth, “To Let” signs, social media groups and letting agencies. Portals people use in Ireland include Daft.ie, Rent.ie and MyHome.ie, which lists rentals across the country (MyHome.ie). Search on more than one and set alerts, because with so few homes, the first day of an advert matters.

Step 4: Viewing, and how to avoid scams

Citizens Information gives a checklist for viewings: signs of dampness, whether the windows open, security, smoke detector and fire alarm, who pays for heating and when it is on, hot water, the state of the cooker, fridge and bathroom, public transport nearby. It lists three common scams: a deposit is asked for by someone who says they are out of the country; someone living in the property shows it to many people and takes rent from each; and the process looks normal until you are given fake keys.

Its advice, in short: inspect the property in person, do not rely on online videos or photos, photograph the landlord’s or agent’s ID where possible, use a secure payment method and avoid cash and wire transfers, ask for a written contract, check current rents in the area and take your time. If you have been scammed, contact your bank at once and report it to your local Garda station.

Step 5: The holding deposit and the first payments

A landlord or agent may ask for a holding deposit when you decide to take the home. Citizens Information says to get a written receipt and that holding deposits are often not refundable if you do not take up the accommodation. After signing, you cannot be forced to make upfront payments of more than two months’ rent: a deposit of a month’s rent and a month’s rent in advance, for tenancies created from 9 August 2021. You may lose the deposit if you leave without proper notice or before the end of a fixed term, cause damage beyond normal wear and tear, or leave with bills or rent unpaid.

Step 6: What do the March 2026 rules mean for you?

For tenancies created from 1 March 2026 (Citizens Information):

• annual rent increases are capped at the lower of inflation (the Consumer Price Index) or 2%, with exceptions for newly built apartments and new student accommodation;
• every new tenancy becomes a tenancy of minimum duration of 6 years once you have rented for 6 months without a valid notice of termination;
• a landlord can re-set the rent to market value only in listed cases, such as when the tenant leaves voluntarily or at the end of the 6-year period.

Landlords must register tenancies with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). From 14 September 2026 the RTB can issue fixed payment notices for six breaches, including failure to register a tenancy (RTB).

When is a home-search agent worth it?

An agent does steps 3 to 5: the search, the viewings and the paperwork. Citizens Information says letting agencies may charge you a fee, and advises you to ask whether the agency is licensed, what it offers and in what circumstances you get a refund. The licence is the PSRA’s. It says all property service providers in the Republic must hold one, and that no licence means no PSRA consumer protection (PSRA).

We found no published price for an Irish home-search service. Our guide on what a relocation agency costs in Ireland says what is known. An agent is more likely to pay off if you land with days, have a family and need school visits, or cannot view in person. To pick one, read how to choose a relocation agent in Dublin. For the paperwork around the move, read moving to Ireland: your first weeks, in order and the guide to the IRP and the PPS number.

To see agencies for your move, get matched or open the Ireland directory. How we rank explains the order.

What we could not source

We did not find a Dublin-only average rent, the documents a landlord asks a newcomer for, how long a search takes or a price for an Irish home-search service. The Daft.ie figures come from a newspaper report. We did not cover Cork, Galway or Limerick beyond the rent growth in the Daft.ie report, or shared accommodation with a landlord, which Citizens Information says falls outside tenancy law. This guide is general information, not legal advice.