Differential Rent Scheme

Changes to Dublin City Council’s Differential Rent Scheme will come into effect on Monday, 6th April 2026. You will be notified of your new rent charge in February 2026. 

All social housing tenancies assessed under the Dublin City Council differential rent scheme will be affected by the new rent scheme. This includes DCC owned tenancies, Approved Housing Bodies, Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and RAS. 

All social housing tenancies will be charged under the differential Rent Scheme. Increases to the child deductions and unassessed values will lessen the impact on single and lower earners.

No, not at the moment. New charges based on your current details will be communicated to all tenants in February 2026. However, if your circumstances have changed since your last rent assessment you should provide up-to-date income details for you and all adult members of your household.

There are several reasons for the changes to the scheme:

• Scheme has been reviewed in line with the increasing cost of management and maintenance of the housing stock.
• The current scheme has not been significantly changed since 1996
• The current scheme benefits those tenancies with higher earnings and multiple occupants in employment
• Currently, the proportion of income paid on rent reduces as earnings increase in households where multiple earnings are present

The weekly rent charge will increase in most cases as result of the changes to how your income is assessed. As the scheme is income related it will affect households differently dependant on earnings. You will be informed of your new rent charge in February 2026, prior to the revised charges being introduced. The new scheme will lessen the impact on the lower paid and single earners due to the increase in the “unassessed value”

The differential rent scheme changes annually in line with social welfare Budget increases and the setting of a minimum rent charge. The new scheme also includes two areas that will be index linked; these are the assumed income rate for Self-Employed tenants and the cap on subsidiary earners. Dependant on CSO Earnings report and social welfare changes the measure will change yearly.

Dublin City Council will engage with all our tenants in February 2026 to advise on any rent increase:

• For a single occupant receiving unemployment benefit the rent increase will be €2.22 per week.
• For a single parent on a new income of €344 with two dependent children the rent increase will be €1.22 per week.

The Rent calculation is based on the tenants’ specific circumstances and income levels across all occupants. 

The City Council has taken time to assess the impacts on a range of different tenancy income levels and to include measures that will reduce the impact on the most vulnerable and lowest income household. However, there will times when tenants need additional support and so the Rent Scheme includes a Hardship Clause. This gives the Council and tenants an opportunity to agree a plan to reduce the rent for a period to help in difficult times.

Check our website www.dublincity.ie, contact [email protected] or call 01 2222211

New rent charges will be set in line with your details on record of income and occupants within households. Tenants should ensure that these are up to date to have an accurate rent charge.

The new Differential Rent Scheme will generate an increase of c.€33m in income over a full 12-month period. The additional income will fund improvements to our existing homes and will ensure the City Council can take a more financially sustainable approach to the maintenance of homes. The types of work will include; energy efficiency upgrades; boiler replacements; improvements to our flat complexes and communal areas; replacement of window, doors and roofs; and adaptations to existing homes.

Contact [email protected] or call 01 2222211 

Failure to pay your weekly rent charge and/or any rent arrears owing will result in a breach of your Tenancy Agreement. You will be contacted by an Executive Housing Officer and given an opportunity to enter a manageable repayment arrangement. If you do not enter a repayment arrangement, a Tenancy Warning will be issued, and legal action may be taken to recover your home.

Rent payments can be made by Household Budget, Direct Debit, Standing Order, online via Dublin City Council’s website, by phone on 01 222 2222 and with your Rent Card at any Postpoint.

Assessable income of principal or subsidiary earner will, in general, be the normal net weekly wage and/or social welfare payments, after deductions of tax, PRSI, and USC contributions (where applicable).

Pay slips dated within the last 3 months, Employment Details Summaries for the previous 3 years – see below instructions on how to obtain these – any or other documentation that may be requested by the Rents Department . If you are self-employed you must submit detailed Revenue audited accounts.

The scheme has been prepared and approved in line with National legislation, which identifies this as an executive function of Dublin City Council.

Dublin City Council presented an update on rental income to both the Housing & Social Inclusion Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) and the Finance SPC in Q1 2025. Both SPC’s agreed to form a joint working group comprised of Councillors from both SPC’s to assess the Differential Rent Scheme to resolve the funding gap and to increase the amount of funding available to the Council to spend on upgrading the housing stock in a sustainable manner.

The Rent Review Working Group was formed consisting of 8 Councillors from across both SPC’s. A total of 6 workshop meetings were held from May to November 2025. The key objectives for the work of the rent review group were that any proposed changes would be:

• Fair and equitable in particular for vulnerable tenancies
• Proportionate
• Simple to implement, administer and collect
• Generate income for the Council to spend on upgrading our existing homes

In workshops 1 – 3 a detailed analysis and discussion of the current rent scheme rules, income breakdown, case studies and model options were presented and discussed in detail.

In workshop 4 (September 2025) an emerging preferred option was identified, and it was agreed with Councillors to present the proposed option to each of the five Area committees to seek feedback from all Councillors.

Meetings with each of the five area committees were held throughout October 2025 and all Councillors were invited to attend and to provide feedback and comments.

In addition, briefings were also offered and provided to Political parties and Independents to ensure all Councillors had the opportunity to input into the proposed changes in a range of different forums.

Following this extensive engagement, in November 2025 the Housing team reported back to a fifth meeting of the Rent Review working group setting out the feedback received during the briefings with the area committees, political parties and independents and identified a set of additional changes that would be made to the proposed rent scheme off the back of this feedback

The members of the working group then invited all Councillors from both the Housing & Social Inclusion SPC and the Finance SPC to attend a final briefing on 11th November at which the final rent scheme was presented for discussion.

All tenants paying rent under the Differential Rent Scheme will be affected. However, those tenancies with multiple earners will be affected most. Currently these tenancies have low caps on secondary earners and a lower proportion of household income charged in rent.

Senior Citizen tenants paying rent under the Differential Rent Scheme will be affected. The increase of the income level unassessed will support the lower paid.

Tenants will be contacted directly in February 2026 to advise them of the changes to the Differential Rent Scheme and what their new weekly rent charge will be. The changes will then come into effect on Monday, 6th April 2026.