‘Emergency’ legislation to tackle short-term Airbnb lets
Legislation to target whole property short-term lettings, including those listed on sites such as Airbnb, will be brought before cabinet in the coming weeks.
That’s according to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, who said that the “emergency” measure could passed and put into action before the Dáil breaks for Summer recess, on July 15.
Regulations introduced in 2019 aimed to bring houses and apartments used for short-term tourist lettings in Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) back to the long-term rental market. These rules have largely been ignored.
Speaking in Cavan last week, as he oversaw the handover of keys to tenants at a new social housing project in Cavan Town, Minister O’Brien indicated that the new emergency measures would be a temporary fix ahead of introducing more robust regulation for the short-term rental sector in future. As of lunchtime on Monday last, May 23, there were nine properties available for rent in Co Cavan - five in Cavan Town, and one each in Kingscourt, Ballyconnell, Bailieborough and Virginia.
The average monthly rental cost of a house was €1,325, and €745 for an apartment.
At the same time there were more than 100 homes available to let in Cavan for upwards of a month at a time on homestay bookings website Airbnb.
“The continued use of short-term lets is something I’m working on. It does concern me. It does impact people here in Cavan and right across the country. I will be bringing legislation into the Dáil on that and hope to have that passed actually before the summer recess, which means before July 15. We’re going to publish the legislation. Effectively I’m looking at what we can do on an emergency basis firstly, a ban on short-term lets [for entire homes] because we’d rather see those properties used for long-term letting.
“The regulations by the way for second homes that people have, they should not be let out on a short-term letting basis even under the current regulations unless they have planning permission to do so, so there are people out there letting properties on a short-term basis that are in breach of the current regs. That is a significant step forward in terms of addressing that.”
Fundamentally, Minister O’Brien says studies show that the vast majority of people who are renting want to be able to have a permanent home, or be able to buy a permanent home.
‘First Home’ shared equity scheme
“That’s the whole thrust of the affordability measures I’m bringing forward,” he says ahead of launching the new, national, affordable purchase ‘First Home’ shared-equity scheme. To be launched July 1, the purchase of new-build homes will be jointly funded by the State and participating mortgage lenders and will be available until 2025.
“It will help them bridge the gap between the finance they have and the finance they need with the State stepping in and taking that stake,” said the minister. “Secondly is the roll out of cost rental. Rents based on the cost of renting or managing the development itself. There are already several hundred situations in existence in Ireland where the cost of rent is about 50% of the current market rate.
“We’re rolling out hundreds more this year. That didn’t even exist 12 months ago. So yes, there is a serious problem in the private rented sector, but I’m absolutely determined to deal with it.”