Written answers
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Rental Sector
Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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478. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to examine concerns in respect of persons in County Kerry (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35752/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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In 2019, my Department brought in Regulations, (SI 235/2019), to provide for new arrangements for Short Term Lets within Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ). The regulations provided for the following:
- Short term letting is defined as the letting of a house or apartment, or part of a house or apartment, for any period not exceeding 14 days.
- Homesharing (the letting of a room or rooms in a person’s principal private residence) will continue to be permissible on an unrestricted basis and be exempted from the new planning requirements.
- Homesharers will be allowed to sub-let their entire principle private residence (house or apartment) on a short term basis for a cumulative period of 90 days where they are temporarily absent from their home. Where the 90 day threshold is exceeded, change of use planning permission will be required.
- Where a person owns a property in a RPZ which is not their principal private residence and intends to let it for short term letting purposes, s/he will be required to apply for a change of use planning permission unless the property already has a specific planning permission to be used for tourism or short-term letting purposes.
It is important therefore, that there is a clear view, both at national level and local authority level, as to the overall policy approach to determining planning applications for Short Term Lets.
The Government has recently agreed a policy to generally preclude new planning permissions for Short term letting in cities and towns with a Census population in excess of 10,000 persons, at the most recent Census of Population. It was further agreed that local authorities should have discretion to develop policies for other locations having regard to relevant local criteria to be set out in the guidance. This guidance will be introduced in the form of a National Planning Statement (NPS).
My Department is currently developing a NPS for the Short-Term Letting sector to supplement and support the introduction of the Short-Term Letting and Tourism (STLT) Bill. It will consider a variety of factors, such as existing planning legislation, the long-term housing need in the local authority area, the location of the proposed Short-Term Let and balancing housing need with the potential impact on tourism and economic development.
My Department has met with various stakeholders such as booking platforms and industry representatives and will continue to do so during the development of the NPS for the Short-Term Letting sector. The legislative basis for a NPS is contained within the Planning and Development Act 2024. The relevant provision governing NPS's is due to be commenced later this year.
John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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479. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he intends to review the current tenant purchase scheme to allow council-owned housing secured under the Part V agreements and or AHB properties to be sold as part of any future tenant purchase scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35760/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Tenant Purchase Schemes provide for the purchase by eligible tenants of local authority properties which are available for sale under the terms of the particular scheme. All applications for the schemes must satisfy the requirements outlined in the relevant legislation.
The regulations provide for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale, including those provided to local authorities under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Part V provisions seek to promote social integration and secure mixed tenure, sustainable communities. Accordingly, Part V properties are excluded from the scheme to ensure the original policy goals of the legislation are not eroded over time and the properties remain available for people in need of social housing support.
Furthermore, the schemes provide only for the purchase of local authority properties and do not extend to properties owned by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). AHBs (also called housing associations or voluntary housing associations) are independent, not-for-profit organisations. They provide affordable rented housing for people who cannot afford to pay private sector rents or buy their own homes; or for particular groups, such as older people or homeless people. Any sale of an AHB property must be in compliance with their Memorandum and Articles of Association and it is also advisable for the AHB to consult with the Charities Regulator in this regard if it is a registered charity. However, as not-for-profit bodies, AHBs are limited in their ability to sell any property on the open market at a value which is less than the market value of the property.
My Department monitors schemes such as these on an ongoing basis to ensure that they remain effective and sustainable, however, there are no plans to amend the schemes at this time.
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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480. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if, under the March 2026 legislation, a tenancy in shared rental accommodation can be considered to have ended for all tenants if one tenant leaves; if the rent can then be reset to market rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35886/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Section 139(7) of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2025 (the RTA) provides that a landlord may, at any time, notify the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in writing of any changes in respect of particulars entered in its register of tenancies, and of any additional particulars to be entered in that register in respect of a tenancy. Such a change in particulars could include changes to tenant information.
Section 139(1) of the RTA requires a landlord to furnish the RTB, by a notice in writing in the prescribed form, with the following information -
(a) the amount of rent as it stands altered and the date from which that alteration took effect, and
(b) so far as any of other matter in respect of which particulars were entered in the register in respect of the tenancy have changed in any material respect since, as appropriate -
(i) the tenancy was registered in the register, or
(ii) information in respect of them was last previously furnished to the RTB.
Such a material change in particulars could include changes to tenant information and the prescribed form is contained in Part 3 to the Schedule to the RTA - www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2022/si/152/made/en/print.
Section 143 of the RTA provides that a person who, in purported compliance with section 134 (Obligation to apply to register tenancy) or section 139 (Updating of particulars entered in the register), furnishes information to the RTB which is false or misleading in a material respect knowing it to be so false or misleading or being reckless as to whether it is so false or misleading is guilty of an offence.
Section 144A of the RTA provides for the enforcement of the requirement under section 139(1) to update particulars of a tenancy. Alternatively, the commission by a landlord of a contravention of section 139(1) may be sanctioned as improper conduct by the RTB under Part 7A of the RTA.
The operation of the aforementioned provisions will be examined with a view to providing any necessary amendment during the development of legislation to introduce the policy changes to rent regulation and security of tenure on 1 March 2026.
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