Up to 12,000 homes could be put back on the long-term rental market as part of new legislation to be introduced by the Government.
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien announced on Wednesday that short-term rentals which are let out for 21 days or fewer must now be registered with Fáilte Ireland.
Homeowners who do not properly register their property could face fines of up to €300, while booking platforms, such as Airbnb, could face fines of up to €5,000 if a registration code does not appear on advertisements.
Fáilte Ireland CEO Paul Kelly confirmed that staff members will trawl online websites to ensure that people have listed their registration code.
The Fáilte Ireland register will be provided to the Department of Housing and Local Authorities so that they have a register of all short-term letting stock across the country.
Homes in Rent Pressure Zones need planning permission in order to be let out for short periods of time.
Mr Kelly said that this new legislation will ensure that this is in place.
He explained that not all homes will be put back on the rental market as they would be better used for holiday homes.
“A lot of those properties are out in rural areas that are appropriate for that are in holiday type destinations by beaches and other things,” he said.
“But there are a lot of them that are in town centres and in city centres that were actually designed and built to be long-term residential properties that have been flipped into this [short-term rental] space.
“It is those kinds of properties where the Local Authority would say, ‘they don't have to do corporate planning permission to be let out as a short term tourism’.
“That's what will take them out of the system.”
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin said that there are approximately 30,000 short-term lets advertised online. Up to 70% are entire houses or apartments.
Ms Martin said that while she is aware that the new measures could affect the amount of tourism accommodation available, the homes are needed for other purposes.
She also pointed out that there will be “benefits” for tourism as it will provide homes to workers who are struggling to provide accommodation for workers.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that “there's no question that a significant number of properties” have been withdrawn from long-term rental markets in favour of being used for short-term lets.
He said that this has negatively affected supply and led to “knock-on impacts” on rent prices.
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