More than a third of Airbnb listings outside Dublin aren't lived in by their owners

MORE THAN ONE-THIRD of properties outside Dublin listed on home-sharing site Airbnb are not their owners’ main residences.

The new figures from the popular accommodation service come as lawmakers consider whether to regulate Irish listings to ensure landlords don’t use the site to cash in on lucrative short-term lets amid a growing housing crisis.

Airbnb’s recent report, titled ‘Home Sharing: The Positive Impacts on Dublin’, said that 36% of homes listed outside the capital last year were not the primary dwellings of their proprietors.

The figures do not distinguish between holiday homes and extensions that are only occasionally listed, and entire properties that are being made available year-round on the site. Airbnb told Fora it could not provide a further breakdown on the data.

In the capital, 12% of the houses and apartments available for short-term rent were not permanently occupied by Airbnb ‘hosts’.

The Dublin figure is down from 17% in 2015, however it means around 730 of the capital’s 6,100 hosts do not permanently live in the properties they rent out to tourists.

That compares to just over 1,400 properties listed as available for longer-term rental in the capital, according to property site Daft.ie.

Regulations

An Bord Pleanála ruled last year that it is illegal to operate a house or apartment exclusively for Airbnb purposes without applying for planning permission to change it from a residential to commercial property.

As a result of the planning board’s findings, the Department of Housing has set up a working group to review whether new regulations need to be introduced for Airbnb.

Housing minister Simon Coveney

It will consider a number of issues related to the service, including tenancy regulations, tax liability and how it impacts on tourism. It is expected to publish its recommendations by the end of June.

A number of cities around the world have already clamped down on the use of Airbnb. In London, the home-sharing site recently moved to cap rentals at three months per year in response to hosts flouting planning regulations.

In response to a query from Fora, Airbnb said it does not intend to introduce a cap here.

“The caps are applicable laws in certain markets,” it said in a statement. “The 90 day limit law doesn’t apply in Ireland, it’s just London, however we remind hosts to check and follow local laws before listing on Airbnb.”

The home-sharing platform has come under fire here in recent weeks from politicians who believe that many listings on the site would otherwise be available to alleviate Ireland’s housing shortage.

There is a particular focus on how Airbnb operates in Dublin, where there is a severe lack of long-term accommodation available to meet high demand. The company employs around 500 people in its office in the capital.

Airbnb listings in Dublin

According to data on Inside Airbnb, a website that looks at how Airbnb listings compare to the residential housing market, just over 45% of the 6,225 properties in Dublin are entire homes and apartments.

Guidelines

In October 2016, An Bord Pleanála upheld a High Court ruling that an apartment in Temple Bar that was used exclusively for Airbnb purposes needed planning permission to continue operating as such.

The apartment drew attention after it was put up for sale with an asking price of €425,000. The advertisement described it as “an exceptional 18% gross yield real estate investment opportunity” with a 90% Airbnb occupancy rate.

The department confirmed to Fora that guidelines were later distributed through a letter from planning policy boss, Terry Sheridan, to the chief executive of every city and county council in the country.

Airbnb's Dublin headquarters

The letter said that in light of the planning board ruling, the use of a residential property purely for “commercial short-term letting purposes” without planning permission “should be considered (an) unauthorised development and subject to enforcement proceedings by the relevant planning authority”.

Based on the appeal case, one of the tell-tale signs of a property being used as illegal short-term accommodation was the absence of a permanent resident.

Local authorities were encouraged to monitor “commercial website platforms” and, when they came across a suspect property, they were advised to write to the owner to confirm “within a specified time frame whether or not the property is being continually made available for short-term letting purposes”.

“Where necessary, initiate the planning enforcement procedures,” the guidelines said.

Fora contacted Dublin City Council to ask how many times it has issued such enforcement procedures, but it was unable to provide an answer at the time of publication.

The council recently said that information on how many properties were under investigation for improper use on Airbnb was “not readily accessible”.

Criticism

Meanwhile, a number of politicians have raised concerns about the impact Airbnb is having on Ireland’s housing market.

Earlier this week in the Seanad, senator Kevin Humphreys said he had received an email from a Dublin South-East constituent complaining that three new houses built on their lane were being used purely as Airbnb rentals.

Speaking at a housing committee meeting last month, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said he was concerned about how long it will take the government’s working group to complete its report.

“If the working group only reports back in the second quarter, we are really only looking at regulations for September, October or November,” he said, adding that it was “an urgent issue in terms of supply”.