The board can now investigate and sanction landlords directly in cases where residential tenancy law is being breached in respect of rent pressure zones, as well as false or misleading notices of termination and non-registration of a tenancy.

People in breach of the law could be warned or fined up to €15,000.

All notices of termination where the tenancy has been ended require, under the law, to be notified and copied to the board within 28 days of the tenancy coming to an end.

Rosalind Carroll, Director of the Residential Tenancies Board, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the board will operate on a case-by-case basis.

Landlords who remedy their mistakes will only be cautioned.

Ms Carroll said: “The legislation sets out to be proportionate. It gives us the required tool kit.”

The board will be able to enter a property and search it where there is a dispute, “if people feel there has been a breach or if an exemption has been misapplied, we can investigate for them”.

She urged tenants who believe there has been a breach to contact the board.

“We have a full range of powers under this where we can ask people to provide us with their bank statements, tenancy agreements. We can even go in and search a property if we need to. So quite extensive powers that, I think, will give us what we need to get into that regulatory area.”