The vast majority of Irish Airbnbs are illegal. Two law students are going after them

31 comments
  1. If they don’t have planning permission for their business what are the chances they’re paying tax? Or have public liability insurance? Fire safety? Etc.

  2. > the overwhelming majority are illegal. Though Airbnb landlords can avail of exemptions in certain, narrow, instances, they require planning permission to let out their properties. Last July Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan through a parliamentary question was told that just 38 such planning applications were successful from 2019 to early 2022. Thirty-eight of 25,000. One local authority, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council, has received “[no applications to operate a property as a short-term let](https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/owners-of-thousands-of-airbnb-properties-in-rental-hotspots-have-no-planning-permission-42392971.html?ref=ontheditch.com)… since the introduction of the short-term letting regulations”. Airbnb meanwhile advertises on its site “over 1,000 homes in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin” to rent.

  3. I wonder if they’ve managed to automate this process? If the students are reading this comment, then you guys should reach out to me and I’ll see if I’m able to help.

  4. Fair play to the two lads, I hope they’re successful! As for:

    “wonder whether we can trust landlords to act in tenants’ interests when they have the option to carry out [illegal evictions and make easier money, even for them, on Airbnb](https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/housing-planning/2023/04/03/landlord-advertising-apartments-on-airbnb-after-he-evicted-tenants-and-said-he-was-selling-up/?ref=ontheditch.com); wonder who benefits when [Airbnb listings outnumber longer term options in all 26 southern counties](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/airbnbs-outstrip-long-term-rental-homes-in-every-county-mm5blpnz7?ref=ontheditch.com).”

    [Ahem Roman, pot, kettle….](https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/journalist-ordered-to-vacate-home-over-nearly-50000-in-unpaid-rent-42296150.html)

  5. Playing devils advocate here but given property rights in this country it may end up backfiring, none of these regulations have been tested.

  6. Excellent. I support them fully for this and applaud their initiative. Hopefully, the media gives them lots of positive attention. We need all the help we can get on this matter.

  7. The government loves to list off how they’re tackling the housing crisis. We’ve known AirBnB has been a potential issue for years and they don’t even bother enforcing their own rules. Shows you how much of a priority this stuff actually is to them.

  8. Fair play to the two guys, it needed to be done. I hope the media promote their case to make sure politicians have to take notice.

    However, on a related note, the hotel sector needs to make some changes to fill the gap. My wife and I have a young child, and we usually stay in Airbnb for two reasons:
    – They usually have at least two rooms. When we put our child to bed at six thirty, then we can go into the other room to eat and watch TV. In a hotel room we either have to sit in the dark with him, or hang out in the bathroom.
    – Airbnbs have kitchens, and hotels don’t. We need to wash bottles, store milk, microwave food etc, and that’s not possible in hotels.

    So to fill the gap left by AirBnB, hotels need to have more family suites with multiple rooms and a kitchenette.

  9. Im going to get downvoted to hell for this one but why are air bnb’s an issue to people?
    I feel obliged to let people know that i do not nor have i ever owned a property which i used for lease or part time rental or profit on planet earth or in the whole of the solar system

  10. I don’t understand why the state doesn’t have someone whose job it is to look through things like Airbnb listings and systematically check every single one of them against the registers and refer all the illegal ones to the Garai.

  11. I wonder how many house could actually be put up for rent if this happens, probably a lot smaller number than people realise. A huge number of places I see on Airbnb are in an owner occupied home. Not just full on empty apartments/houses. I know a few families who do it that would just be losing out because they won’t be having someone move in with them and their kids… unless someone was willing to move into their house and not have access to their kitchen/sitting room etc

  12. Wonder what the numbers of airbnbs was like pre covid, I reckon a lot of the demand for them is driven by so many hotels accomodating refugees over the last year. Given many hotels in Dublin are stopping this from this summer, I wonder will it all combine to create an oversupplied market by the end of the year.

  13. I overheard a scum landlord in Kilmore, Co wexford **laughing** at how he was evicting his tenants as he needed to ‘decorate ‘ the house and how he’s actually putting it up on AirBnB to make a fortune.

    And he did. And got away with it like 1000s of other scumbag landlords.

  14. Fair play to them. But really this only highlights issues with the planning permission process again.

    I get people don’t like Airbnb. And it is a big party of the problem. But at the same time feels to me weird to be telling people what they can and can’t do with their property/asset.

    Reality is Airbnb can be a better,more profitable and less hassle method of renting a property.

    The low planning permissions confirmations are really an issue with the process itself and then the fact you are left to potential political intervention to deny that application.

    I’ve got some sympathy for some folks who’d prefer to short let their property.

Leave a Reply