Cost rental in Ireland: every scheme, with the day it opens.

Long-term rented housing where the rent covers only the cost of building, managing and maintaining the home, with no developer profit. Rents must be at least 25% below market rent in the area and rise only with inflation. You get security of tenure after six months. Homes come from approved housing bodies (Tuath, Clúid, Respond, Circle, Oaklee), the Land Development Agency and local authorities under the Affordable Housing Act 2021.

Net household income of €66,000 or less in Dublin and €59,000 or less elsewhere. Net means after income tax, USC, PRSI and pension contributions, added up for everyone aged 18 or over. You must not own a property or get HAP or other social housing support, everyone must live in Ireland, the household size must match the home, and the rent should be no more than 35% of net income. Check your numbers here.

There is no waiting list and no central application. Each development is advertised separately with an opening date and time. You apply on the provider’s own site during the window, one application per household per scheme, and upload your documents. If there are more eligible applicants than homes, a lottery decides. Our step-by-step guide and documents checklist cover the detail.

Cost rental is renting at a below-market rent with long-term security. Affordable purchase (the Starter Home Purchase Scheme) is buying a new home from a local authority at a reduced price, with the council keeping an equity share of at least 5% that you can buy out later. Purchase eligibility uses gross income times four against the market value; cost rental uses net income against a fixed limit. See schemes to buy, the purchasing power calculator and the comparison of every affordable housing scheme.

In 2024 the LDA received more than 23,000 applications for 1,253 cost rental homes and more than half were ineligible. The usual mistakes: counting gross instead of net income, forgetting a household member’s income, applying for a home size that does not match the household, submitting two applications for one scheme, and missing the document deadline after a lottery win (the LDA gives 72 hours). Our eligibility calculator and documents checklist exist to stop exactly that.

From the official Starter Home Supports portal run by the Housing Agency (newstarterhomes.ie, formerly affordablehomes.ie), which lists every scheme advertised by councils, approved housing bodies and the LDA. We check it every 15 minutes and link to the provider’s own application page. About this site.