Introduction of new Airbnb rules could end home-sharing across many areas

HOUSING Minister Eoghan Murphy doesn’t want to stop people renting part of their homes through Airbnb. He only wants to stop the entire property from being rented, for months at a time, taking rental units out of the market for those living in our urban areas.

There’s a compelling reason why. We have a housing crisis, and a shortage of properties has resulted in record-high rents for city dwellers. It seems perverse that homes should be leased to tourists for lucrative sums when so many people struggle to find an affordable home.

New rules from the Department of Housing state that anyone renting a room on a short-term basis will have to seek planning consent to do so, with the logic appearing to be that these are not quite family homes, but something more akin to commercial units.

Other restrictions also apply: the owner must reside in the property being rented, meaning entire houses or apartments cannot be offered. It can be rented for no more than 60 days a year, to no more than four visitors at a time, and for no more than five nights in a row.

Airbnb is unhappy, saying the proposed measures are among the most restrictive of all markets in which it operates. The five-day limit isn’t in place elsewhere, and limiting the number of guests to four means Airbnb is off-limits for larger families. Having to apply for planning permission before the 60-day limit also presents a problem, because some Airbnb hosts will never rent for that period of time.

It wants “clear, simple rules” which can be understood by everyone. “The problem with this guidance is it just adds to confusion and fear,” one source said.

But could the minister just ban Airbnb in its entirety, at least until the housing crisis is sorted?

One Dublin apartment block did so, with residents at the Spencer Dock complex last year told short-term lets were contrary to residential and tenancy agreements, with residents of more than 600 apartments asked to stop advertising them.

But a national ban is unlikely, as there will always be a need for short lets, whether for people working in Ireland for a short period of time or those moving house or undertaking renovation works which require somewhere to live for a number of months.

Other cities have taken steps to limit the influence of the home-sharing site. The

60-day, four-person-per-unit limit, for example, already applies in Amsterdam. In Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, hosts must register the property, which means they must be compliant with health and safety regulations. After 90 days, they must secure a hospitality licence. New Orleans has banned short-term rentals in some parts of the city, and in Berlin, hosts must live in the residence or risk being hit with hefty fines.

In the US, Santa Monica in California obliges the owner to live in the property, and secure a business licence. Entire properties, or empty homes, can only be rented for

30 days or more.

A working group here is looking at introducing regulations, but what will most likely scupper Airbnb is that local authorities have been instructed to consider if it is “appropriate” to grant change of use permission in rent pressure zones. That rules out Dublin, Galway, large parts of Cork city and county, and towns within easy reach. That action could end home-sharing in the areas most under pressure, but whether it results in more rental stock coming on to the market remains to be seen.