Dublin City Council (DCC) has issued around 300 statutory warning letters this year to property owners allegedly engaging in unauthorised short-term rental of their properties.
In a clampdown against property owners who do not, allegedly, have planning permission to place their properties on platforms such as Airbnb and booking.com, the council issued the letters as the first step in an enforcement process.
A spokesman for the council said on Friday: “To date, since the initiation of the short-term letting legislation in July, 2019, a successful resolution has been achieved in respect of 1,996 cases. These cases have been resolved and closed following the commencement of and compliance with enforcement requirements.”
Property owners who seek to regularise unauthorised use through planning retention applications face an uphill struggle in securing planning permission for their short-term letting.
The Dublin City Development Plan includes a policy with a general presumption against the provision of dedicated short-term tourist rental accommodation in the city. This is due to the impact on the availability of housing stock.
One of the property owners to receive a warning letter was the operator of Dublin Castle suites, Olympia Real Estate Limited. The firm received the letter in March and earlier this month, DCC refused the firm’s planning application to continue the short-term rental use of its 10 apartments facing on to Parliament Street and Dame Street.
Another short-term stay operator, Bébinn Limited, trading as Shortstays, currently has a planning application before the city council. This relates to planning retention of short-term letting accommodation for six en suite bedrooms on Benburb Street, Dublin 7.
Asked to comment on the council issuing the 300 letters, a spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland said: “Short-term letting (STL) accommodation is an important part of the overall tourist accommodation mix, helping to ensure we have offerings that cater to the different needs of visitors.
“However, for communities to thrive, there must be a balanced mix of long-term private rental and short-term letting accommodation for tourists.”
Fáilte Ireland has been tasked with the establishment and maintenance of a statutory register of short-term letting accommodation in the State.
“Planning, including enforcement decisions on planning applications, is a matter for local authorities,” the spokeswoman added. “The establishment of the register, along with the implementation of the EU STR Regulation, will provide Fáilte Ireland with data on STL properties. This data will be shared with local authorities to support their role in enforcement of planning requirements for short-term lets.”