My Department, under Action 18 of the Strategy for the Rental Sector, has established a Working Group consisting of all the major public stakeholders with interest in Short Term Letting. The Working Group will report to the Minister on the appropriate regulatory approach for short term lettings and the identification of any necessary amendments to legislation required to give effect to such regulation. It is expected that the Working Group will report by end 2017.
The aim is to facilitate the short-term letting of accommodation within permanent residences – homesharing – while protecting the existing stock of residential property in areas of high demand, safeguarding neighbourhood amenity and consumer protection and generating revenue to address negative externalities of short term letting.
As a first step, the working group has developed guidance for Local Authorities in relation to the appropriate approach for planning decisions related to short term lettings and a circular in this regard was issued to all Local Authorities last month. The Working Group is now working on proposals for an appropriate comprehensive regulatory approach for short term tourism-related lettings and the identification of any necessary amendments to legislation required to give effect to such regulation.
The guidance is an immediate measure intended to ensure that the existing planning regulations are adhered to and that they are used appropriately to facilitate genuine home-sharing and to protect the supply of rental accommodation and the housing stock. It provides guidance to planning authorities where an application for planning permission has been made for the purpose of short term letting.
There is a specific exemption in article 10(4) of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 for, within certain limitations or restrictions, development consisting of the use of a house for overnight guest accommodation, which, therefore, does not require planning permission. This exemption is typically or traditionally relied on in the context of the provision of B&B type accommodation. The circular does not provide guidance for planning decisions for houses that are covered by the exemption.
However, the term “house” does not, for the purposes of article 10(4), include a building designed for use or used as 2 or more dwellings or a flat, an apartment or other dwelling within such a building. Providing overnight guest accommodation in such dwellings is, therefore, specifically excluded from this exemption and may constitute a material change of use and, if it does, it requires planning permission.
The circular, therefore, provides guidance to LAs when considering applications for planning permission for a material change of use to allow short term letting in such dwellings and also in houses that are not covered by the exemption.
This guidance is a first step. It does not constitute an alteration to the existing planning regulations, which are unchanged by the guidance circular. Indeed any changes to the existing regulations relating to the exemption from the requirement to obtain planning permission are subject to the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas, as set out in the Planning and Development Act 2000.
The guidance circular is not expected, or intended, to resolve all the issues related to short term letting. The broader licensing and regulatory approach, on which the Working Group is developing proposals, will provide the comprehensive framework to do this.
