In a rented Dublin home, a broken washing machine is not the tenant's problem to fund. That is not an opinion or a letting-agent custom — it is the law, set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 137/2019). Yet “check your tenancy agreement” is still the first thing many tenants hear, advice borrowed from the UK that is simply wrong in Ireland. This page states the Irish position plainly, explains the two real exceptions, and shows how we handle landlord repairs so the machine is fixed, the paperwork is clean, and nobody ends up before the RTB.
Regulation 7 — what the law actually says
Regulation 7 deals with laundry facilities in rented houses. In substance it requires that a rented property has access to a washing machine, and a dryer where the property has no garden or yard the tenant can use for drying. Crucially, Regulation 7(4) places the maintenance duty on the landlord: appliances provided under the regulations must be maintained in good working order, and keeping them that way is the landlord's responsibility, not the tenant's. With 24.1% of Dublin households renting privately, this duty covers a quarter of the city.
What that means in practice: if the washing machine in your rented home stops draining, stops heating, or dies altogether, and it is the machine that came with the property, the repair is the landlord's to arrange and pay for. It also means a landlord cannot simply remove a broken machine and call the property compliant.
The two genuine exceptions
- The tenant's own machine: if you bought and installed your own washer in the property, it is yours to repair. The regulation covers appliances the landlord provided.
- Misuse damage: damage caused by misuse — a pump destroyed by screws and tools left in pockets is wear-adjacent, but a drum wrecked by washing items the machine was never built for is misuse — can fairly be charged to the tenant. Honest diagnosis and photographs settle which side of the line a fault sits on, which is why our job reports include them.
Tenants: what to do, in order
Put the request in writing — an email or message you can keep, not just a phone call. State the fault, when it started, and that the machine was provided with the property. A landlord who knows the duty usually acts; most delays are ignorance, not malice. If nothing happens within a reasonable time, your next steps are the local authority's housing standards inspection and the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) dispute route. Keep every message. If you are a tenant reading this and your landlord has agreed to the repair, you can book us directly on 645 465-6305 and we will invoice the landlord or agent as instructed.
Hi [landlord/agent name], I'm writing to let you know the washing machine provided with the property at [address, Eircode] stopped working on [date] — it [fault: e.g. will not drain and shows error E18]. Under Regulation 7 of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019, the machine is the landlord's to maintain, so I'd be grateful if a repair could be arranged as soon as possible. I'm happy to provide access for an engineer at short notice. Many thanks, [your name]
Landlords and agents: how our service fits the duty
We invoice the landlord or letting agent directly — the tenant never has to front the cost and chase reimbursement. Every job closes with a written report and photographs: the fault, the part fitted, and an honest note on the machine's condition and likely remaining life, so your records show the duty being met with dates attached. Where a machine is beyond economic repair, the report says so and supports the replacement decision instead, following the logic in our repair or replace guide. Agents running several properties should look at commercial and portfolio terms — a named contact and per-property history make Reg 7 compliance far easier to evidence. Typical repair figures are in the Dublin cost guide, and the main service page is washing machine repair Dublin. To book a landlord repair, call 645 465-6305.
Response times and records protect everyone
The regulations do not set a single number of days for every repair, but unreasonable delay is where disputes start. A tenant without laundry facilities will understandably press harder as days pass, particularly where children, medical needs or no nearby laundrette are involved. Landlords protect themselves by responding in writing, booking promptly, and keeping the engineer's report with the tenancy file. Agents should log the date the fault was reported, the date of the visit, and the date the machine was back in working order. That simple timeline shows the duty being taken seriously. It also helps distinguish a genuine parts delay from a job that was never booked — a distinction that matters if the RTB or a local authority inspector ever asks to see the record.
Related pages
The duty, in the law's own words
“All facilities under Regulation 7(2) shall be maintained in a safe condition and in good working order and good repair. … Responsibility for maintenance of facilities under Regulation 7(2) shall rest with the landlord.”
— Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019, Regulation 7(3)–(4) (S.I. No. 137/2019, Irish Statute Book; full text linked in Sources below)
Sources
- Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 137/2019), Irish Statute Book — the full text of the regulations, including the Regulation 7 laundry duty
- Citizens Information — Minimum standards for rented homes — the same standards explained in plain English
