Dáil debates

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Rental Sector

10:50 am

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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3. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of his plans to regulate short-term lettings here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39182/18]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I was just reminded by my colleague, Deputy Casey, that he initially raised this matter at the very first meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government with the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Coveney. It relates to any plans to regulate short-term lettings in the State. In particular, the Department has a task force and I wish to ask when its report will be published.

This is an issue. People too often just mention Airbnb but it is actually short-term letting. We all agree that we need to regulate this sector. In fairness, from my meetings with Airbnb and others, I understand they would welcome regulation. What is the status of those plans, when will the task force report be published and when will legislation be published so that we can actually act on this issue?

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Under action 18 of the strategy for the rental sector, my Department established a working group involving representatives of all major public stakeholders with a policy interest in short-term lettings to develop guidance in respect of planning applications and changes of use relating to short-term lettings and to examine the need for new regulatory arrangements. The proposals under consideration by the working group, which has met on six occasions to date, have been aimed at facilitating short-term letting of accommodation within permanent residences, known as home sharing, while protecting the existing stock of residential property in areas of high demand, safeguarding neighbourhood amenity and consumer protection, and generating revenue to address any negative externalities of short-term letting. The working group completed guidance for local authorities on planning applications relating to short-term lettings and my Department issued a circular on the matter last October. The group has since been focused on developing proposals for an appropriate comprehensive regulatory approach for short-term tourism-related lettings.

Having considered the group's report, as well as the recommendations in the Oireachtas joint committee's report on short-term lettings, I am engaging with other relevant Ministers on the appropriate next steps in taking the proposed regulatory regime forward. Among the options under consideration are the development of a new licensing regime for short-term letting platforms and homeowners who rent out rooms or entire properties to tourists to facilitate a more managed approach to short-term tourist lettings, and protect the existing stock of residential property, in particular long-term rental accommodation, in areas of high demand. Recognising that the introduction of such a regulatory regime will take time, I am also considering what other measures might, in the interim, support the recommendations and objectives set down in both the working group's report and that of the Oireachtas committee.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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It appears that we are no closer. A Bill we published on 30 November 2017, initiated by Deputy Casey, could be used to move on in planning terms. Setting up a regulatory body would of course take time.

No one is looking to shut down home sharing or anything like that. That gets mixed up in this debate. Really it is about those who are using properties on a 365-day-a-year basis for what are supposed to be short-term lettings. Not only does that have an impact on the rental sector and on stock, but it also has an impact on neighbours, where there are visitors coming in every two or three days. There are many issues, as the Minister knows. I do not think we can wait too much longer. The Minister has engaged with the sector as have I and others. It is impacting particularly in urban centres such as Dublin, Cork and Galway. It is impacting on stock. On what date does the Minister think he will be able to bring forward regulations to make changes in the sector that will improve the supply in areas of high demand?

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right; we cannot wait any longer. I am a fan of home sharing. It is a very interesting new development that we have in the shared economy. However, it cannot happen in an unfettered way. Certainly when we have a housing crisis it cannot happen in an unregulated way.

The Deputy has me in a difficult position because I am about to finalise proposals on this. Had this question come this day next week, I think we would be talking about the changes that would have already been made, if I can put it in those terms. If we want to look to the types of recommendations and the types of changes that should be made, the Oireachtas joint committee had some excellent proposals. I was actually closer myself to that committee's recommendations than to the report I received from the group that was established. If we look to Toronto in particular, what it has done is very interesting. Essentially, what we will be talking about is potentially a two-stage process whereby in the near and immediate term we go to make a change that will have a substantial outcome in terms of getting short-term lettings back into the long-term market, but then also moving to a point after that where we can have a proper understanding of what is happening in terms of licensing, regulation and everything else.

I will give people notice when I make the announcement ahead of when the actual changes will come into law. I will do that next week in order that people can have a little bit of time to get ready for the new arrangements. I agree that it is important that we move on this quickly.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am very pleased to hear that changes are imminent. We are talking about next week, which is to be welcomed. No one wanted to rush the fences on this issue either. I, too, am a fan of home sharing and there is a role for it. People travel differently and we have issues as well whereby we need to ensure that people can visit and experience Ireland. First and foremost, however, we need to make sure that in the midst of a housing crisis we are not losing properties and stock to the hospitality sector and that we prevent excessive profiteering in this regard as well, which has been taking place. There have been interesting decisions made by a couple of bodies including Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála about the type of zoning that would be required for properties that are being used solely for short-term letting right through the year. Such activity should be seen as a commercial enterprise, not a residential one.

I look forward very much to the Minister's announcement next week. I hope it is as close to the joint committee's recommendations as possible. We all will want to work together to make sure this makes an impact very quickly. It is an important part of resolving parts of our supply issue in the residential market.

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I think when we talk about the Oireachtas joint committee's recommendations, it will be very close to the committee's intentions but the manner in which we actually achieve it might be a bit different because it could be quicker the way I am proposing and that is what I have been trying to do.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We will have an open mind on it.

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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It is a question of how we can do this quickly and effectively. We can discuss that next week when the announcement is made. I am trying to finalise the announcement at the moment so this is not to give an absolute guarantee about next week. If something were to come up it might delay things because there is a bit of work still to be done, but we are very close. We are trying to understand the scale of this problem. The Deputy will have looked at the same data I have in terms of reports that have been published and the potential number of new homes that could come in to the rental market. If we look at the information from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, today, it tells us how important it is. If we can quickly get 1,000 homes in the greater Dublin area, or potentially more, back into the rental market very soon, it would have a very important impact in terms of what people are experiencing at the moment. As the Deputy knows, they are experiencing an incredibly difficult situation where people are paying far too much in rent if they can even find a place to rent, which is also very difficult.