Enforcement proceedings against landlord for short-term lets welcome but more needs to be done, says TD

Enforcement proceedings taken against a landlord in Dublin demonstrate that regulations for short-term lets do exist – but are not being adequately enforced by local authorities, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan TD.

The owner of an apartment block in Dublin evicted tenants last year after claiming he was selling the property.

Instead he converted the apartments into short term lets and advertised them on AirBnB.

“The landlord is therefore in breach of the requirement to obtain change-of-use planning permission for short-term lets in rent pressure zones,” Deputy O’Callaghan said.

“Last Wednesday, the council issued an enforcement notice to the landlord stating short-term letting at the property must end by April 28.

“It is unclear why the council is allowing this landlord a further month to comply with a regulation he is clearly in breach of.

“This building should immediately return to residential use.

“While it is welcome to see belated enforcement proceedings taken against this landlord, it does underscore the almost wholesale failure of local authorities to enforce existing regulations on short-term lets.

“In January, it was reported that in the three years since the regulations were introduced, just 142 change of use planning applications for short-term lets had been submitted to local authorities and just 50 granted.

“As it stands, there are more than 16,000 properties available for short-term lets and under 1,100 available for long-term rental.

“Given the current housing disaster, which will be exacerbated by lifting the eviction ban, an obvious and immediate way to increase the supply of long-term rental properties is the enforcement of the regulations governing the short-term letting sector.”