The Private Tenancies Act (NI) 2022 received royal assent on 27 April 2022. 

The only immediate change this new legislation brings is to notice periods for private tenancies which change on 5 May 2022. 

New notice to quit periods from 4 May

From May 5 2022 landlords will have to give 

• 4 weeks’ notice to end tenancies lasting less than a year 
• 8 weeks’ notice to end tenancies lasting between 1 and 10 years 
• 12 weeks’ notice to end tenancies lasting more than 10 years 

From May 5 2022 tenants will have to give 

• 4 weeks’ notice if they’ve rented the property for up to 10 years 
• 12 weeks’ notice if they’ve rented the property for more than 10 years 

The notice has to be in writing and should expire at the end of a rental period.  

12 week notice to quit requirements end on 4 May 

Emergency measures extending notice to quit periods to 12 weeks  end on 4 May 2022. 

Notice to quit requirements may change again in the future

The act allows for longer notice to quit periods to be implemented in due course. These may range from 

• 8 weeks for tenancies of less than 12 months to 
• 7 months for tenancies of more than 8 years 

These longer notice periods will not take effect until further regulations have been made. The regulations will likely include exceptions to these notice periods.  

Exceptions may be related to the tenant and may include: 

• substantial rent arrears 
• serious antisocial behaviour 
• certain criminal offences 

Law allows for further change to private tenancies in Northern Ireland

The act also contains a number of other changes that require further regulations before they come into force. 

These changes include  

• improvements to safety standards 
• providing information to tenants about their tenancy 
• limiting rent increases and deposit amounts 

Find out more about private tenancy changes in Northern Ireland

Housing Rights will be providing training sessions to explain the key areas of the act. The training sessions will take place on 

• Wednesday 4 May from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
• Monday 23 May from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm