Dáil debates

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Topical Issues

Airbnb Properties and Planning Permission

6:00 pm

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am grateful to be able to raise the Airbnb subject under Topical Issues today. It is a highly topical issue that has been commanding attention for the last number of days.

6 o’clock

We need to have a conversation in this House about Airbnb. It is well past time. Airbnb has featured as a topic on the airwaves and in newspapers, both nationally and internationally, for the past year or so. For travellers, websites such as that of Airbnb offer affordable rooms to travellers and tourists, as well as an insight into and a taste of local living throughout the world. Airbnb's European headquarters are, as we know, based in Dublin, providing 300 jobs in the capital. I recognise that for those who rent rooms or properties, it can represent a financial lifeline. In the Irish context, being in negative equity has often been cited as a reason for availing of such a lifeline, as well as, perhaps, supplementing a modest income. A recent article in Financial Times stated:

...the creation of this huge new marketplace should be welcome. But to some city authorities, the explosive growth of home-sharing represents a threat to the regulated hotel sector, a nuisance to other residents and an incentive for landlords to convert long-term lets into more profitable holiday rentals, exacerbating housing shortages.

It can be argued that those landlords who let full properties to Airbnb guests would not let them to social housing tenants to the same extent, but at a time of an acute housing shortage surely some of them would or could so let. Equally, because of the shortage of hotel rooms in Dublin, with only one additional hotel coming on stream at the end of 2016 and only another half dozen to be delivered before the end of 2019, the argument in favour of Airbnb supplementing and augmenting the tourism room offering in the capital is compelling. However, we have no statistics or hard information, except that from Airbnb or monitoring websites. The website insideairbnb.com, for example, gives the following statistics for Dublin. In the capital there are a total of 6,225 listings of properties for sharing or renting. In the Dublin city area there is the largest number of properties available, almost 5,000, for an average of 119 nights per year. Furthermore, 48% of the listed properties are either apartments or houses which are available for full letting. In other local authority areas there are smaller, proportional numbers. According to the statistics, the average cost of an Airbnb room in Dublin is €102 per night, which compares with the cost of €129 for a hotel room. There are more than 2,000 properties listed in Dublin. These are not rooms or sharing opportunities but either homes or apartments which are available on Airbnb for full-time letting for 80% of the year.

What started out as a novel concept offering individuals who owned their own homes the opportunity to offer to travellers a room, rooms or their home to share or rent has exploded into a market impacting service with few ground rules, in which there is a lack of regulation, while there are issues around registration, tax compliance and planning laws. The evidence of landlords with multiple properties or individuals renting multiple properties and sub-letting them to Airbnb tenants, while undoubtedly entrepreneurial, has placed Airbnb very much on the radar of the hotel industry, housing and homelessness organisations, the Revenue Commissioners and, more recently, the independent planning authorities but not the legislators in these Houses. That is my purpose in raising the issue. As I stated, it is well past time we had this conversation about Airbnb. As the Financial Timesputs it in its editorial:

[It] is not a reason to restrict home-sharing. It is rather an occasion for authorities around the world to look again at the regulation of overnight accommodation, consider which rules still make sense and ensure they apply to all businesses offering equivalent services.

6:10 pm

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is right; it is time we had this conversation in the House. I will give some background information and put the issue in context, but it is a conversation we need to have, not just tonight. It is one we are examining and will be discussing it further.

Article 10(4) of the Planning and Development Regulations, 2001 to 2015, which deals with change of use exemptions for planning purposes provides that development consisting of the use of not more than four bedrooms in a house, where each bedroom is used for the accommodation of not more than four persons as overnight guest accommodation, shall be exempt from the requirement to obtain planning permission under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provided that such development would not contravene a condition attached to a permission under the Act or be inconsistent with any use specified or included in such a permission.

The interpretation and application of enactments relating to exempted development in any particular case are, in the first instance, matters for the local planning authority concerned or An Bord Pleanála on appeal or referral. Similarly, an enforcement action for any breach of the planning code is a matter for individual planning authorities under Part VIII of the Act of 2000. Section 30 of the Act specifically precludes the Minister from exercising any power or control in any particular case, including enforcement, with which a planning authority is or may be concerned.

I understand the recent determination by the board on the use of an apartment for short-term, commercial letting purposes through a dedicated website was based on a number of considerations related to the particular circumstances of the case. They included, for example, the exclusive use of the apartment in question on a year-round basis for short-term commercial lettings, the absence of any permanent resident from any portion of the apartment and submissions made by the letting company, as well as those made by other residents of the area. Accordingly, the board concluded that the use of the particular apartment in question constituted a material change of use and was, therefore, not an exempted development under the planning code.

The effect of the determination which is in line with the earlier decision of Dublin City Council is that the letting company or apartment owner will need to apply to Dublin City Council for planning permission for a material change of use. Continued operation of the apartment in question without such planning permission could be considered to be unauthorised development and subject to enforcement proceedings by Dublin City Council under the planning Acts. It is also important to note that the role of the Minister in the planning system is primarily to provide the supporting policy and legislative framework which the Deputy addressed and which comprise the Planning and Development Act, the planning and development regulations and statutory planning guidelines, to which planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard in the exercise of their statutory planning functions. The day-to-day operation of the planning system is a matter for the individual planning authorities and the board. However, in the context of the recent determination by the board, as referred to by the Deputy, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, has asked the Department to examine the decision and consider the appropriate steps that might need to be taken, including the provision of statutory planning guidelines, with a view to providing clarity and ensuring consistency of approach by all planning authorities in terms of the planning requirements for such commercial lettings. As part of that work, we will have this conversation to see where we are going in this matter. The Deputy has raised valid points and we will have an opportunity to address and discuss them further in the House after the Department has prepared a briefing note for the Minister.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of other issues that have been highlighted by commentators and to which the Minister of State has not referred, including the impact Airbnb properties have on the social environment. Given that the majority of its properties are residential in character or setting, the ability of Airbnb to impact on neighbourhoods, residential areas, particularly apartment and privately managed complexes, is considerable. There is sufficient anecdotal evidence available on this point in terms of a public narrative for it to be at least a cause for concern. This is before mentioning the legal complexities of renting properties with shared management fees, common areas, parking and public access issues and so on, never mind the impact on residents of a residential development which was granted planning permission morphing into a commercial and, possibly, rateable enterprise. More than 6,000 units in Dublin are listed with Airbnb. The An Bord Pleanála decision allows for a wider conversation to take place and the Minister of State suggests he is open to having it. Airbnb has to begin to engage in an Irish context, but it needs an agency to engage with before that discussion can begin. However, there is no such agency or vehicle to allow it ot take place.

Until recently, Airbnb properties were not in breach of any law or regulation. The Minister of State will be aware of the wider international context. Berlin has banned tourists from renting entire apartments on Airbnb to protect the availability of affordable housing. Other cities have banned the renting of full, multiple properties because of its impact across a range of factors such as housing supply, neighbourhoods and residential settings. In New York the governor may give effect to a law which provides for fines of $7,500 for the owners of short-term lets on Airbnb. I recognise that an association which represents Irish landlords states there should not be an outright ban.

As I stated, what started out as a novel idea has exploded and I guess Airbnb is a victim of its its own success. The House and the Government needs to discuss the issue. There is a balance to be struck. I look forward to seeing the report the Department is to bring to the Minister and hope it will enable us to have a wider debate on the regulatory framework.

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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We will examine all of the issues raised by the Deputy in the review of the decision made last week. I agree that it would be worthwhile having the conversation, but we will be forced to have it now, which is fair enough. It is something that was on the cards for a while. The Department will review the decision and examine all of the various concerns raised by the Deputy. We will also examine the international context and decide on the best step by step approach to take. I assure the Deputy that we will have a chance to discuss the matter in the House before that will happen. It is something the relevant committee might decide to examine.

The committee is doing great work in analysing policy statements and future policy formation. We do not yet have a timeline setting out when we will be ready to proceed but we are working on the issue and I will keep the Deputy posted.