“Decisions are being made in silos across all of Europe and the short term rental sector has to put up with the consequences,” Viktorija Molnar of the European Home Holidays Association told the annual conference of the Irish Self Catering Federation at Clayton Liffey Valley.
The Conference heard that the register of short term rental properties was ready to be implemented but the legislation was not in place.
Fáilte Ireland Head of Registration and Grading Fergal O’Leary said that media reports that the registration would be in place in December were over optimistic. He said the number of registered properties being assessed by Fáilte Ireland would rise from around 6,000 to 34,000 under the new legislation.
The ISCF, AirBnB and Vrbo, who were represented at the conference, said they were in favour of the registration scheme. Delegates expressed alarm at the fact that planning authorities had suggested existing short term rental authorities would have to re apply for planning permission for existing holiday homes. Some letters had already left the short term letting market because of their fears of this relating to cost and the bureaucratic hassled.
Derek Nolan of AirBnB told the conference “there are two things here, the registration which everyone is in favour of, and the planning implications which is causing alarm.”
