Short-term letting rules need to be enforced, says charity boss

THERE needs to be stronger enforcement of regulations on short-term property lets to address the lack of long-term rental, a housing charity chief said yesterday.

The Government is reportedly set to make moves in the next two weeks to further restrict the short-term letting of apartments and houses to make more homes available, and is said to be seeking advice from the Attorney General on the matter.

John-Mark McCafferty, CEO of Threshold, said regulations on short-term lettings were introduced in 2019 but there has been little enforcement of them.

He told Morning Ireland: ‘It’s a deep irony that this holiday weekend, tourists are in homes via short-term lets while many homeless people and families are in hotel accommodation.

‘We’ve advocated for many years for changes to laws and policies for leases to short-term lettings and the reason we are is because we’ve seen the numbers of short-term lets ahead of longer term rental housing for people.’

He said since 2019, homeowners who are looking to list their property on short-term letting sites must apply for planning permission to do so.

Mr McCafferty added: ‘A stronger enforcement of the regulations would see the issue being reduced. There doesn’t seem to be a significant impact as a result of the 2019 regulation.

‘If there is enforcement, it must be relatively light because we’re just seeing short-term rates soar compared to just the abject lack of longer term rented housing.’

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien suggested that more regulations around short-term lettings may be on the way.

He told Newstalk: ‘With the accommodation crisis we have now – and obviously with the job that we have to do to accommodate our friends from Ukraine – we’re looking at some measures in the short-term to restrict the letting of full properties and second properties for the short-term letting market.’