You’re protected by the Residential Tenancies Act if you have a tenant/landlord relationship with the owner – that is, if you signed a tenancy agreement with them so that you’re responsible to them for paying the rent and looking after the property.
When people are sharing a house or flat and are all paying rent, it may be that all of them are legally “tenants”, or it may be that only one or some of them are tenants – it all depends on who signed the tenancy agreement. The people who aren’t tenants are often just referred to as “flatmates”. Flatmates don’t have any legal relationship with the landlord – instead they’re responsible to the tenants.
Your rights as a flatmate will depend on the agreement you have with the tenant or tenants. It’s a good idea to have a written flatmate agreement so that everyone knows what their responsibilities are. If there’s a dispute between a tenant and a flatmate (for example, about rent payments or electricity or internet bills), this can be taken to the Disputes Tribunal. Disputes between two or more tenants about things like bills can also go to the Disputes Tribunal. See the chapter “The Disputes Tribunal”.