Short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com could face fines of millions of euros under new regulations aimed at freeing up properties for long-term housing requirements.
The legislation, the General Scheme of the Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill, was published on Thursday and outlines plans for a new register for all short-term lets (SLTs) in Ireland.
The regulations are due to come into effect in May 2026 and it is hoped that these new rules could help release 10,000 homes back on to the long-term market in the midst of the country’s housing crisis.
According to Fáilte Ireland, there are 32,000 short-term lets advertised online in Ireland.
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The register will be managed by Fáilte Ireland and property owners offering accommodation for periods of up to and including 21 nights will need to be registered.
These properties will need a valid registration number and Fáilte Ireland will monitor online platforms to ensure compliance with this.
The registration number will also allow councils to determine whether the property has the correct planning permission.
This will effectively ban short-term lets in cities and urban areas because planning permission applications will be refused for those in areas with populations of more than 10,000.
While it was previously stated that online platforms could be fined up to €5,000 for each listing of a property that does not have a valid registration number, that has now been superseded by the legislation published on Thursday, which allows for much larger financial penalties.
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These financial penalties on online platforms will now be up to a maximum of 2 per cent of turnover – which, given Airbnb’s multibillion euro annual turnover, could be significant should the online letting platform fall foul of the new rules.
A new adjudication panel of three people, led by a chief adjudication officer, will also be established.
This panel will decide what level of financial sanction will be imposed on platforms for breaking the new rules.
The online platform will be invited to make submissions to this panel, after which an oral hearing may take place and evidence will be given.
The adjudication panel will consider a number of factors when deciding on the size of the fine, including the degree of harm caused to the public by the contravention, the absence of internal mechanisms to prevent such a contravention and the extent to which the platform knew the contravention would occur.
It will also consider the timeliness of steps taken by the company to address the issue and any gain it might have made from the infringement.
The decision of the panel on what financial penalty is appropriate may be appealed to the High Court. Once that decision is made, it will be confirmed by the Circuit Court and the payment will be given to the exchequer.
These new regulations and potentially huge fines for online platforms come after strong lobbying to the Department of Housing by Airbnb.
In a letter to then minister for housing Darragh O’Brien in 2022, Airbnb lobbyist Derek Nolan expressed “serious concerns” about the proposed new legislation.
As reported by The Irish Times in January 2023, Mr Nolan, a former Labour TD for Galway West, told the Minister he wished to express his “surprise and serious concern that this announcement has come without consultation”.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Airbnb said on Thursday that the company had “long called for Ireland to introduce proportional short-term letting rules, including a host register, that protect the families, communities, and businesses that depend on tourism.
“While Airbnb is not the cause of long-standing housing challenges, we will continue to work with the Government as it looks to bring in new regulation.”
