Can we continue renting to our Ukrainian friends and reclaim our holiday home later?

Q. We have been letting our holiday home for more than two years to a Ukrainian family under the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme. The Government is ending the scheme in March 2027.

We have become good friends and would be happy to continue renting to them for a modest rent for the next 12-18 months, but we’d like to have the use of our holiday home again after that. Is there a way we can do this?

The reader has availed of the tax-free Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP), now paid at €400 a month, for accommodating a Ukrainian family in her holiday home.

There were 16,300 people hosting 38,300 Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection as of October 11th, according to the Department of Justice.

Occupants under the ARP scheme are regarded as licensees rather than tenants, says Shane O’Dea, a senior solicitor at Amorys Solicitors.

“Hosting under the ARP is not a formal landlord/tenant relationship, so they have no landlord/tenant rights at the moment,” says O’Dea.

If no additional payments were made to the landlord by their ARP occupant, then no tenancy existed under the Residential Tenancies Act, says the Residential Tenancies Board.

The reader says she would be happy for her Ukrainian friends to continue living in her holiday home after the ARP scheme ends in March. She would plan to charge a modest rent but this would constitute a tenancy, which, according to RTB rules, would begin from the date that rent became payable by a tenant.

New private rental sector tenancy rules mean the reader would be restricted in how she could end that tenancy.

Tenancies created since March 1st this year are subject to rolling six-year tenancies of minimum duration.

A landlord can end a new tenancy in the first six months for any reason, says the RTB. But after six months, they must have specific reasons to do so.

“If a tenant has been renting a property for six months and they haven’t received a valid notice of termination, a landlord can only end the tenancy during the six years on very limited grounds,” says O’Dea.

The specific conditions are linked to how many tenancies the landlord has.

All landlords can end a tenancy during the six years if the tenant doesn’t meet their obligations, such as paying rent.

Small landlords – those with between with one and three tenancies – can avail of additional grounds for ending a tenancy. These are if they need to sell due to financial hardship or if they or a close family member, such as a spouse, civil partner, parent, parent-in-law or child, wants to use the property as a primary residence.

Using the property as a holiday home is not one of the reasons under which a tenancy can be ended.

If the reader decides to end the new tenancy during the first six months, dates are really important. She must give the tenant between 90 and 120 days’ notice and a copy of the notice of termination must also be sent to the RTB within seven days of the date it is served.

The holiday homeowner and the Ukrainian family clearly have a good relationship, so they could agree to a “break” option after a certain amount of time, says O’Dea.

“For example, the property owner could include the option to terminate the lease after a year or two if the tenant signs up to that,” he says, “but if the landlord exercises the break option and the tenant refuses to leave, the break option is totally unenforceable.”

“It’s only in good faith that you do that between two parties but if the tenant refuses to comply, they have all the rights.”

Agreeing a fixed-term tenancy for a specified period does not overrule a tenant’s rights, the RTB advises.

No matter the stated duration of the fixed-term lease, once the tenant has lived in the property for six months with no valid notice of termination, they have security of tenure and can remain in the property, it says.

“Once they are in the property for six months after March 31st, 2027, then they can remain there for six years,” says O’Dea.

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If the reader decides to enter a new tenancy with her Ukrainian friends next March, it will have to be registered with the RTB, which recommends a written tenancy agreement.

If she sets a modest rent, this can only be increased once a year by 2 per cent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lowest.

She can only reset the rent to market value at the beginning of a new tenancy, but only if the last tenancy ended because the tenant left by choice, the tenant breached their obligations or at the end of a six-year tenancy of minimum duration cycle for an ongoing tenancy.

Some point to the option of parties in this situation using a “licence” arrangement – this is often used in “digs”-style accommodation where you are living in the house with your licenser, where accommodation is provided by an employer or if you are renting from another tenant. Licensees are generally not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act.

But the use of the label “licence” in an agreement between parties does not guarantee it will be regarded as such, so it would be important to get specific legal advice here.

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The RTB and the courts may look beyond the terms of a written licence agreement and look at how the property is being used in practice. If the occupant has sole possession of the property or if rent is being paid, it may be regarded as a tenancy.

The name of the reader who submitted the question is not being published to protect the identities of those involved. Please send your legal queries to Joanne Hunt, Ask the Lawyer, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or by email to joanne.hunt@irishtimes.com with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice.