The Republic of Ireland has adopted new policies requiring owners in ‘high housing demand areas’ to secure planning consent if they want to let them via Airbnb and similar platforms for three months or more in a year.

Only owners of second properties – buy to lets or holiday homes – will have to apply for consent, and owner occupiers will face no further restrictions in letting individual rooms. However, even they will have to abide by a 90-day maximum number of bookings in a year if they let their entire home.

The Irish Times, reporting the decision, says the move – which is likely to kick in next summer – follows from concerns that landlords who previously offered properties to tenants on the basis of traditional annual or multi-year leases are opting to let to tourists instead. 

The newspaper says the new policy will bite particularly in cities, including Dublin, where many areas are designated as being in high housing demand. 

The republic’s Department of Housing is expected to provide guidance to councils on how to grant or refuse such permissions.

The UK’s short lets landscape has been transformed in recent years by the advent of Airbnb and similar online platforms, with some local authorities claiming private rental opportunities for permanent residents have been reduced as landlords have switched to letting to tourists.