Student Accommodation in Ireland: A Guide for Students and Parents

Most students who move away for college in Ireland live in one of four types of accommodation: college residences, private purpose-built student accommodation, digs (a room in a family home), or a shared private rental. In Dublin, demand is high and prices are the highest in the country, so start early. Apply for college accommodation as soon as your college opens applications, budget for the whole academic year, and know which rights come with the type of agreement you sign.

This guide is for students and parents, with Dublin as the main example. The rights described here apply across Ireland. Prices are the 2026/27 rates published by each provider, checked on 7 October 2026.

Group of students relaxing and chatting on sofas in a shared accommodation lounge

The four main types of student accommodation

Type	What it is	Your legal position	Worth knowing
College residences	Rooms or apartments owned or run by the college, on or near campus	Student specific accommodation: covered by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), even when the agreement is a licence	Places for first years are limited. Each college sets its own dates and rules, and some use random selection
Private purpose-built student accommodation	Student apartment blocks run by private companies	Student specific accommodation: covered by the RTB	Check what the weekly price includes and how long the contract runs
Digs or Rent-a-Room	A room in the owner’s own home, sometimes with meals, sometimes Monday to Friday only	A licence. Not covered by the RTB	Agree house rules, meals, days and notice in writing before you move in
Private rental	A room in a shared house or apartment rented from a landlord	A private residential tenancy: covered by the RTB	You may share bills and responsibilities with housemates. The landlord must register the tenancy with the RTB

The RTB sets out these categories on its student renting page. Short-term lets (temporary agreements for a short time) are not covered by the RTB.

Digs and Rent-a-Room Relief

Digs suit students who would like a more settled base in a family home. Because the student lives in the owner’s home, the arrangement is a licence, so the student has fewer legal protections than a tenant. That makes a clear written agreement more important.

For families thinking of hosting a student:

Rent-a-Room Relief. If you let a room in your own home, the income can be exempt from income tax if it doesn’t go over €14,000 in the year. If it goes over that limit, the whole amount is taxable (Revenue).
SUSI. If your own child applies for a SUSI grant, up to €14,000 of Rent-a-Room income declared to Revenue can be deducted from your household income for the means test (SUSI).

When to start looking

College accommodation can open, and fill, before CAO offers come out. Each college runs its own process, so check the accommodation pages of every college on your CAO list in the spring of 6th Year. Two Dublin examples from 2026:

UCD opened 2026/27 accommodation applications for CAO applicants on 6 April 2026. When we checked on 7 October 2026, UCD said all CAO places had been filled and was allocating only from a waiting list, and it pointed students to off-campus options through its UCD Accommodation Pad (UCD Residences).
Trinity invited CAO applicants to apply for Trinity Hall, its residence for first years, from 1 July 2026. Places are allocated by random selection, not first come, first served, with the first offers due two to three days after CAO Round 1 offers. Trinity says Trinity Hall houses about 850 first-year undergraduates, is always oversubscribed and cannot guarantee places (Trinity College Dublin).

A practical timeline:

5th Year and early 6th Year: when you compare courses, note where each one is taught and whether you could commute. A long commute or a high rent is part of the real cost of a course.
Spring of 6th Year: check every college’s accommodation dates and rules, and apply for SUSI when it opens. See our SUSI grant guide.
June and July: apply for any residences that open later, and think about a backup plan, such as digs or commuting for the first few weeks.
August: Leaving Cert results and CAO Round 1 offers bring a rush of students looking for rooms. An Garda Síochána warns that rental scams spike at this time (An Garda Síochána).

Accommodation checklist: questions to ask before you pay

Use these questions when you view a room or speak to a provider. Write down the answers so you can compare options side by side.

The agreement

Is this a tenancy or a licence? Is it student specific accommodation registered with the RTB?
How long is the agreement, and what are the start and end dates?
What is the notice period if I need to leave early, and what would I still owe?
Can I have a copy of the agreement and the house rules before I pay anything?

Money

What is the rent, and is it charged weekly or monthly?
What does the price include: heating, electricity, broadband, bins, cleaning, meals?
How much is the deposit, how will it be returned, and what can be deducted?
When is each payment due, and how do I pay?
Will I get a receipt for every payment?

The room and building

Is the room as advertised? Do the heating, hot water, windows and locks all work?
Is there a smoke alarm and a clear fire escape route?
How many people share the kitchen and bathroom?
Is there somewhere quiet to study, and a reliable internet connection?

Getting to college

How long does the journey take at 9am, and what does it cost?
Is the route safe late in the evening?

For digs

Which meals are included, and on which days?
Am I expected home on weekends?
Can I have friends visit, use the kitchen or do laundry?
What notice will each of us give if the arrangement ends?

Questions parents can ask

Parents often see things a student misses. These questions help without taking over the decision:

Have we seen the room in person, or on a live video call with someone we have met?
Who is the landlord or provider, and have we checked their identity?
If a letting agent is involved, do they hold a licence from the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA)?
Can we afford the full year, not just the deposit and first month?
What is the plan if this falls through a week before term starts?
Who will our son or daughter contact if something breaks or goes wrong?
Have we agreed how bills will be split with housemates?
Do we know the contact details of the college’s accommodation or student support office?

Your rights: what the RTB says

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) regulates the rental sector in Ireland. Its pages are a plain-language summary of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended, and are not a substitute for legal advice.

Licence or tenancy?

Student specific accommodation (college residences and private student blocks) is under the RTB’s remit, whether you sign a tenancy or a licence. Each licence must be registered with the RTB.
A private residential tenancy in a shared house or apartment is also covered.
Digs and Rent-a-Room, where you live in the owner’s own home, are licences and are not covered.
Calling an agreement a “licence” doesn’t make it one. The RTB looks at the actual arrangement, not the name (RTB).

Deposits and advance rent

A landlord cannot ask for a deposit of more than one month’s rent, or for more than one month’s rent in advance. In other words, you can’t be asked to pay more than the equivalent of two months’ rent to secure the accommodation. The only exception is if you pay rent and tuition fees to the same provider and choose to pay more in advance (RTB).

Ask for a receipt that shows the amount and date, and avoid paying a deposit in cash if you can.

Rules for student specific accommodation

The agreement should not be longer than 41 weeks, unless you ask for a longer one.
You can end a fixed-term tenancy at any time between 1 May and 1 October each year, for any reason, by giving valid written notice.
The landlord must register the tenancy or licence with the RTB within one month and re-register every year. You can check the RTB register.
Rent increases are limited by national rent control rules.

Rights in all rented accommodation

The accommodation must meet minimum standards, such as hot and cold water. Your local council can inspect it.
You cannot be discriminated against on grounds of gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race or membership of the Traveller community. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission can help if you think this has happened.
If you can’t resolve a problem with your landlord, the RTB has a dispute resolution service for registered tenancies.

Rental scams and how to avoid them

An Garda Síochána describes three common rental scams (An Garda Síochána):

The “landlord” says they are abroad, can’t show you the property, and asks for a deposit.
Someone living at the property shows it to several people, takes deposits from all of them and disappears.
Everything seems normal until you find the keys don’t work and the landlord has vanished.

To protect yourself, the Gardaí and the RTB advise:

See the property in person before you sign anything or pay any money, and meet the landlord there.
Check the landlord’s or agent’s identity, for example a photo ID, and take a photo of it on your phone.
Pay the deposit to the landlord, not to the people moving out or a courier.
Pay in a way that leaves a record, such as a cheque or bank draft, and keep receipts and messages.
Make sure the keys work and the agreement is signed before you hand over the deposit.
Be careful if the rent seems too good to be true.

If you think you have been scammed, report it to your local Garda station and your bank straight away.

Budgeting: what accommodation costs in Dublin

Prices vary widely by college, location and room type. These are published 2026/27 prices, checked on 7 October 2026:

Accommodation	Published price for 2026/27	Period
UCD Residences	From €677.77 a month (a shared twin room, per person) to €1,407.94 a month (an en-suite room in UCD Village), including utilities	Two-trimester licence, 1 September 2026 to 16 May 2027 (UCD fees)
Trinity Hall (Trinity College Dublin)	From €178 a week	11 September 2026 to 5 May 2027, 236 nights (Trinity)
Kavanagh Court, a private student residence in Dublin 1 that Trinity offers to non-EU first years	€325 a week	38 weeks, 29 August 2026 to 22 May 2027 (Trinity)
Here! Cork Street, a private student residence in Dublin 8 partnered with Trinity	From €303 to €349.50 a week	41-week and 51-week contracts (Trinity)

UCD notes that its 2026/27 fees were subject to final inflation figures in August 2026. For the wider private market, the RTB’s Rent Index for the first quarter of 2026 put the standardised average monthly rent for new tenancies in County Dublin at €2,335. That figure is for a whole property, not a room, but it shows why shared and student options matter. The same index put the averages at €1,744 for Galway and €1,678 for Cork (RTB Rent Index Q1 2026).

Example: a first-year budget

Example (for illustration only). A student from Co. Mayo gets a room in Trinity Hall at the lowest published rate. 236 nights is about 33.7 weeks, so the room costs about €6,000 for the year (33.7 × €178). If her family’s income put her in SUSI Band 1, her maintenance grant for 2026/27 at the non-adjacent rate would be €4,722. The grant would cover about four-fifths of her rent, leaving nothing towards food, travel or other costs.

The maintenance grant is a contribution towards living costs, not the full cost. Build a budget that also includes:

Food and household items.
Travel, including trips home.
Bills not included in the rent, such as electricity, heating or broadband.
Course materials, printing and equipment.
Phone, clothes and social life.
Contents insurance, bedding and kitchen items.
The deposit and first payment, which are due before any grant is paid.

Help with the cost

SUSI grants. The maintenance grant is paid in nine instalments, and the non-adjacent rate applies if college is 30km or more from home. See our SUSI grant guide for the 2026/27 rates.
Rent Tax Credit for parents. Parents who pay rent for a child on an approved course may be able to claim the Rent Tax Credit, worth up to €1,000 a year for a single person or €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple for 2024 to 2028. It can apply to digs, but not if the family and the landlord are related, and the part of the payment for meals or utilities doesn’t count (Revenue). Check all of Revenue’s conditions before you claim.
College supports. Ask the college’s student support or accommodation office about the Student Assistance Fund and other help.

Outside Dublin

The same rules on licences, tenancies, deposits and scams apply across Ireland. Average rents are lower outside Dublin, but the RTB figures above show they are still high in counties such as Galway and Cork. Start with the accommodation office of each college on your CAO list, and use the same checklist.

Next steps

Students: add travel time and accommodation cost to your notes for each course on your CAO list. Our CAO application guide explains how to put your choices in genuine order of preference. If your school uses MyUniChoices, it helps you build a shortlist of courses to research, at home and abroad.
Parents: go through the checklist and questions above together, and check SUSI eligibility early.
Everyone: ask your guidance counsellor, who can help you weigh up courses, colleges and the practical side of moving away.
Guidance counsellors and school staff: book a demo to see how EirQuest and MyUniChoices support Senior Cycle planning.