LAST UPDATE | 13 May

THE SHORT-TERM LET register, meant to come into effect this month, has been delayed until December.

In February, Minister for Enterprise and Tourism Peter Burke told The Journal he was committed to working towards the May date for the register.

Today, Burke and housing minister James Browne confirmed it will begin on 1 December. 

All operators will have a legal obligation to register by 31 December.

The Bill providing for the register aims to enforce a requirement, introduced in 2019, for property owners to obtain change-of-use planning permission to let out entire houses and apartments on platforms such as Airbnb when they are located in rent pressure zones.

This is also required if the owner is a resident but wants to let their entire property on a short-term basis for more than 90 days per year.

Anyone letting a property, or bedrooms in a home, for periods of 21 nights or fewer will have to register with Fáilte Ireland under the planned new legislation.

Short-term letting accommodation providers will be required to display their registration number on any listing or advertisement for their property after registering.

‘Tell us what’s going on’

The government earlier this year rowed back on plans that would ensure short-term let planning permission would be required in towns with populations over 10,000.

Instead, the government decided the new restrictions, which are yet to be implemented, will only apply to towns with a population of over 20,000.

 A new National Planning Statement will be published shortly, as will the Short-Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill, which will reflect relevant policy agreements, the ministers said.

However, the requirement for operators to register and the lack of visibility around the unpublished bill have attracted criticism.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said this “means everybody’s in this limbo and it’s caused enormous confusion”.

“The idea that they are delaying it until December and we still don’t know when the legislation and the planning policy statements are being published, is really, really concerning,” he said.

The housing and tourism ministers, James Browne and Peter Burke, “need to go out and tell us what’s going on”, he added.

Ó Broin said it was unclear if accommodation providers would have to be planning compliant by the 31 December deadline.

He said: “There were rumours going around that you’d have to register, but you’d then be given two years to demonstrate planning compliance.”

There are also questions whether people operating outside planning laws for more than seven years would be immune from enforcement action, as they are for unauthorised developments.

The Irish Self-Catering Federation, the representative and lobbying body for owners of self-catering properties in Ireland, welcomed the delay.

A spokesperson said the federation “believes this delay is a necessary and practical step, allowing time for clarity on planning requirements and alignment with the phased implementation of the STR Register across the European Union”.

In a statement the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment said the proposed policies are “part of a broader Government strategy to tackle the housing shortage by ensuring that as many suitable properties as possible are available for long-term rental”.

It said housing and tourism ministers are “working together to identify a pathway which strikes a balance between returning properties to the long-term residential market, while protecting rural economies that rely heavily on tourism”.

Additional reporting by PA