Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I refer to amendment No. 188 which relates to 14 days. Let us take the example of someone with a house in Dublin. They live in the house but their job takes them out of the country for three months in the year, which would not be an unusual arrangement. Currently, for those three months, that person short-term lets the property to one, two or three hosts for the three months. It is not a property that is available to the private rental market or that could have long-term letting but it can be used for short-term letting for those three months. My one fear about the 14 days is that whereas today that homeowner can rent out their property as a short-term let to one guest for three months continuously, when this new regime comes in they will have to apply for planning permission. One would expect that they would get it because it is not a property that could enter the rental market but they would then be restricted to only allowing a guest to stay for a maximum of 14 nights. They could let it out for more than 90 days but it could not be to the same person for more than 14 nights. This was the issue which arose previously at the briefing. Will the Minister clarify if that is the case? If it is, we need to look at some way of amending that. If I get planning permission to allow me to rent out my property on a short let basis for three or four months of the year when I am not there because I am working abroad, it should make no difference whether it is let out continuousy to the same person for that period or to different people.

My second question relates to the current rules for planning enforcement. If someone is in breach of planning permission today, and I make a complaint to the local authority, the local authority investigates. However, if the breach was committed seven years ago there is essentially a statute of limitations, it is past and no action can be taken. Deputy Pat Casey and myself have asked about this previously. If the legislation as proposed is passed, and I had been engaged in short-term letting for eight years, can I circumvent the new rules because of the seven year statute of limitations that currently exists? Clearly, there will not be a large number of those because short-term letting has become much more prevalent in recent years, but it is a concern that people could circumvent the new rules if they could prove they were trading for more than seven years as short-term lets.

Finally, the Minister is linking the short-term letting regulations to the rent pressure zones. However, many members of the committee believe this sector should be regulated anyway. When the rent pressure zones expire, and a sunset clause is built into them, does that mean these regulations automatically fall? If the Government of the day was of a mind to keep the regulations, it would have to amend the legislation at that stage. Has any thought been given to that? While the initial impetus for us discussing the short-term letting was the rental crisis, this sector needs to be regulated, just like the private rental sector or the commercial rental sector. What is the Minister's view on what will happen in relation to the amendments he proposes today when the RPZs expire?