Tenants evicted for holiday lets
Tenants are being put out of houses in Carlingford which are then put up for short term holiday lets, it was claimed at the monthly meeting of Louth County Council.
Cllr Peter Savage said he knew of cases where people had been put out of houses they were renting and were to told that the houses were being sold, only to discover that they were being put up for short term holiday lets.
This emerged during a debate on steps which the council might take to limit the impact which holiday letting websites such as Airbnb are having on the housing rental market.
Cllr Mark Dearey had submitted a motion that, ‘in light of the recent decision by An Bord Pleanala that the consistent intensive letting of a property in Dublin does constitute development, that Louth County Council should now require a change of use for properties being used in a way that is not ancillary to normal domestic use.’
He took the view that planning permission should be required in was in cases where the high frequency of guests in houses in residential areas without a full-time occupancy was affecting the amenity value for neighbours, was putting unplanned pressure on sewerage capacity, was adding pressure on road and parking capacity, increasing public health risk, and creating unaffordable house prices and rents for local residents.
He said he wanted to encourage Louth County Council to be more active where there are residential units being rented out in the ‘sharing economy on social media’.
He said that the reality was this meant that residents were sharing sleepless nights, were sharing concerns about who was going to be next to them for a weekend, sharing concerns for their children, and sharing concerns around parking spaces.’
The concept of a ‘sharing economy’ as set out by the likes of Air B&B had now morphed into something entirely different at a cost to residents, he continued.
The revenue from such short term lets was so great that it was impossible for people to compete against them.
He cited Carlingford as an example of one area where this was causing a problem and he was sure that there was similar activity in other parts of the county.
Director of Services Frank Pentony said that a working group was being established to look at short term letting and he was expecting a report by the end of the year. He undertook to send a copy of the Department’s circular in relation to the matter to councillors.
Chief Excecutive Officer Ms Joan Martin said that the legislation was one of planning and that it would be dealing with the issue of change of use and not issues such as parking or noise at night. She said that the council would have to be guided by the planning guidelines.
Cllr Dearey argued that the impact on sewerage capacity or eight or nine cars pulling up to one house were planning issues,
Cllr Savage suggested that the council engage with those involved in short term lets to see if they could find some ways of resolved these issues.
‘ There are people being evicted out of houses in Carlingford on the pretext that the houses are being sold but he landlords want to get into this lucrative market,’ he said.
He thought that if the Council was to hold a public meeting in Carlingford to discuss the problems as well as the advantages such as employment, it might help the situation.
Cllr Dearey pointed out that people can bring a case to An Bord Pleanala themselves as individuals. That was what happened in Dublin as it was individuals who had brought the case and not the council.