One of the major landlords in the State has been fined €26,000 for failing to comply with rent pressure zone requirements.Dublin-registered Vestry Limited Partnership was issued with two €10,000 fines, a €6,000 fine and a written caution regarding four properties it leases out in Dublin, Galway and Kildare.Details of the sanctions, from autumn of last year and confirmed by a court order, were published recently by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).Vestry Limited Partnership was established to acquire and let residential investment properties in Ireland, according to the latest financial statement of its general partner company, Vestry General Partner DAC. Filings for the partner company show the partnership is linked to hundreds of properties across the State.Annual rent increases were legally capped at 2 per cent across Ireland’s rent pressure zones, which were extended nationwide in June of last year.While these pressure zone restrictions still apply to old tenancies, a new rental rule regime was introduced last March permitting the resetting of rents to market rates at the end of a six-year tenancy term. An annual rent cap of 2 per cent applies during the six-year contract. Only tenancies created after March 1st of this year are governed by the new rent rules.The RTB has powers under the Residential Tenancies Act to investigate alleged breaches of rental laws and to seek court sanctions for findings of improper conduct.Other significant sanctions published this year include a December 2025 fine of €15,000 for Dublin-based Davy Property Holdings for failing to comply with rent pressure zone rules for a home at Russell Downs in Tallaght, Dublin.[ RTB deems notice of termination landlord issued after alleged ‘violent’ assault invalidOpens in new window ]Landlord Nigel Tuite, with an address in Killiney, Co Dublin, was found to have failed to register a tenancy on Northumberland Road, Ballsbridge, with the RTB, as required by law. He was sanctioned last December and fined €12,812 for this and for failing to comply with rent pressure zone rules and for incorrectly relying on an exemption to these rules.CER Ireland SA Dev Ltd was fined €11,000 in January after being found to have sought payment to secure a tenancy in excess of what was allowed. Landlords cannot ask a prospective tenant to pay more than one month’s rent as a deposit to secure a property.The Dublin-based landlord was found to have carried out the “improper conduct” in relation to 30 student apartments at Carman’s Hall on Garden Lane in the Liberties, Dublin.The sanctions come as new RTB data shows the average rent for new tenancies was €1,755 during the first quarter of this year, up 5 per cent on the previous 12 months. Existing tenancy rents grew by 4.4 per cent over the period to stand at €1,503 in early 2026.Landlords with 100 or more tenancies increased to account for 15.1 per cent of all private rentals. In Dublin, these major landlords are bigger players, making up 29 per cent of private tenancies.