Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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54. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he has considered ways of incentivising the long-term letting of properties that are currently being let as short-term rentals in an effort to create increased supply of long-term rental accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33091/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Legislative reforms to regulate the short-term letting sector through the planning code, in areas designated as “rent pressure zones” (RPZs), were introduced under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 which came into effect on 1 July 2019.

Notwithstanding the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, significant work on the implementation and enforcement of the Regulations has been undertaken by planning authorities since they came into effect.

Further to a review of the current provisions as operated by local authorities under the planning code, the Government has already agreed a specific action in Housing for All (action 20.4) to “develop new regulatory controls requiring short-term and holiday lets to register with Fáilte Ireland with a view to ensuring that houses are used to best effect in areas of housing need”.

I have engaged with the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media to progress this action and ongoing collaboration on the legislation and related matters is taking place between officials of our respective Departments and Fáilte Ireland.

Funding was allocated in Budget 2022 to Fáilte Ireland which has been tasked with the design and implementation of a new short-term lettings registration system. The agency is currently recruiting staff to work on this project, with the project lead in place since March 2022. The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is presently scoping out the legislative provisions that will be required to robustly underpin the new registration system with a view to these provisions being enacted in 2022. The online registration system is being developed, as are the necessary processes and procedures to ensure, once launched, that the register is comprehensive, accurate and up to date.

The final details of the operational arrangements in relation to the new registration system - including its linkages to the online short-term letting platforms - are still being worked out. However, an underlying objective of the new system will be to ensure that an adequate level of private rental accommodation can be provided, particularly in urban areas of high housing demand, and that such accommodation is not overly diverted to the short term letting sector at the expense of local people seeking long-term rental accommodation.

From the long term rental perspective, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supplies. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations.

In 2019, the regulations were amended to allow alternative requirements in cases where a house is let or available to let under a private residential tenancy agreement for a minimum lease period of 10 years.

This amendment removed the requirement to furnish a rental property with white goods with the aim of encouraging landlords to offer long-term leases (minimum of 10 years) and to promote a transition to a model of longer term rental options for households.

Under 'Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland', a specific action has been set for the Department of Finance to review the recommendations of the Working Group on the ‘Tax and Fiscal Treatment of Landlords’ that took place in 2017. My Department, working in collaboration with the Residential Tenancies Board, will assist the Department of Finance in carrying out this review in Q3 2022.