New Regulation of Short Term Letting
As part of measures to help address pressures in the private housing rental market, new planning legislative reforms to regulate the short term letting sector - as provided for in the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 and supplementary regulations made by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government entitled the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 - come into effect on 1 July 2019.
Under the Regulations, the following Local Electoral Areas have been deemed as rent pressure zones:
- Bandon Kinsale
- Carrigaline
- Cobh
- Fermoy
- Macroom
- Mallow
- Midleton
Please see the following link to the associated interactive map: Interactive Local Electoral Area Map 2019.
The reforms are primarily aimed at addressing the impact on the private rental market by the use of residential homes for short-term tourism type letting in areas of high housing demand. Accordingly the new provisions will only apply in areas designated as “rent pressure zones” under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended.
Short term letting in areas outside the designated rent pressure zones are not impacted in any way by the new arrangements. Under the new arrangements applicable in rent pressure zones:
- Short term letting is defined as the letting of a house or apartment, or part of a house or apartment, for any period not exceeding 14 days.
- Homesharing (the letting of a room or rooms in a person’s principal private residence) will continue to be permissible on an unrestricted basis and be exempted from the new planning requirements. • Homesharers will be allowed to sub-let their entire principle private residence (house or apartment) on a short term basis for a cumulative period of 90 days where they are temporarily absent from their home.
- Where the 90 day threshold is exceeded, change of use planning permission will be required.
If you homeshare your principal private residence in a rent pressure zone and wish to avail of the new planning exemptions, you will need to register this with your local authority and fulfil specified reporting obligations:
- Form 15 should be completed at the start of the year
- Form 16 should be completed when the 90 day cap has been reached
- Form 17 should be completed at the end of each year
However, where a person owns a property in a rent pressure zone which is not their principal private residence and intends to let it for short-term letting purposes, s/he will be required to apply for a change of use planning permission unless the property already has a specific planning permission to be used for tourism or short-term letting purposes.
A “Frequently Asked Questions” document has been prepared to assist in providing a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the new short term letting reforms and the new reporting obligations on homesharers. For further information & to comply with the aforementioned reporting obligations, all correspondence & completed forms should be submitted to shorttermlettings@corkcoco.ie.