Dublin denies planning permission for short-term lets

Ireland: Dublin City council has set significant precedent, by denying a series of short-term lets planning permission for continued operation.

Out of 16 properties that applied, the council denied eight applications.

The city council says this is leading to a shift in city policy, which would outright prevent operators from running Airbnb units full time in Dublin. The specific properties denied application were a series of five luxury houses, marketed together as the Bobby Sands suites which had been used for holiday accommodation since 2017.

This is following news last July that property owners  in rent pressure areas must acquire planning permission in order to provide short term lets for more than three months. The council has said, however, that it intends to deny any of these applications, and has not set any date for when they would consider approval.

In a statement, the city council stated its policy would be: “to refuse planning permission for any development which would result in the loss of permanent residential units within designated rent pressure zones”.

The rest of Ireland is also putting pressure on its short-term rental offerings. In the recent election, a major argument between two of the leading parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, was over the governments diligence in enforcing enacted regulations.

In a statement, Fianna Fail noted that the party: “has not backed up its press release politics with actual resources for Local Authorities to enforce new regulations.” The party is set to enter negotiations for government after the recent election in which Sinn Fein won a record high number of seats.

Europe at large is considering increasing regulatory strength over Short-term lets. Dutch courts have recently forced short-term rental hosts to seek permits for using their properties, with France planning to impose heavy fines on the industry moving forward.

Airbnb has responded to these shifts, calling for the creation of a digital regulating body, who could serve as negotiators between countries and online businesses.