Government Need to Accept The Aontú Bill to Clamp Down On Airbnb Lets
Responding to recently released figures on spiking number of Airbnb Lets available, Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has demanded the government clamp down on this undermining of the rental market and pass Aontú’s Housing Bill as a first step in the right direction.
An Teachta Tóibín: “Ireland is caught in a perpetual housing crisis, from extremely low numbers of properties available in the rental market and first time buyers’ market, to social housing waiting lists decades long, crippling rents and spiralling house prices. With every week comes another alarming example of successive government failure on housing. Today’s indicator of Government failure shows that there are more than six times as many short-term rental properties available on Airbnb than there are rental properties on Daft.ie. In Dublin, there are over 2,700 Airbnb properties for tourists to choose from – whilst the 1.43 million population of Dublin has little over 400 properties on daft to compete for. It is easier to secure holiday accommodation in Irish properties today than it is to rent a home for your family in your country’s capital city. A crazy situation where tourists are staying in people’s homes and yet families who can’t find homes as a result are staying in hotels. This is enormously damaging to families and young children with regards their development, nutrition, education, socialization and mental health and it is costing the state millions.”
“Yet Dublin City Council are reporting paltry number of applications for planning permission for short-term letting with an even smaller fraction of those permissions granted. These figures are replicated across many cities and towns across the state. This information tells us that the sector has ignored the government legislation or that the legislation has more holes than a colander. Rental income from Air bnb homes can be as high as €230,000 a year. There is no doubt that this type of income is pushing house and rental prices up in the city. The government have failed to tackle the issue, which is only getting worse. It is time for the government to clamp down on this glut of short term lettings undermining our housing market.”
“Our Aontú Bill is a temporary measure lasting 3 years with a possible extension to 5 years aimed at increasing the number of dwellings available for long term rent. It aims to significantly house families. It aims to significantly reduce rents. It aims to shut down loopholes and make the system much easier to enforce. The Aontú Bill will, if enacted, prohibit any short term lets of non-principle residence in a town or a city with a population of over 10,000 people. The Bill defines Short Term lets as periods of time under 28 days in duration. This in effect completely rules out the function of Airbnb in large towns and cities for Short Term Lets. It is a significant reform. It will mean that those homes that Covid has forced out of the Sort Term Letting market will remain out and many more homes will come into the long term letting market.”
