Ireland's National Short-Term Letting Register Goes Live as New Rental Laws Reshape Housing Market
Ireland's national Short-Term Letting Register has gone live, requiring anyone offering paid accommodation for twenty-one nights or less to register annually with Fáilte Ireland and display a valid registration number on all online listings, as part of a sweeping package of rental market reforms that also includes a national rent control system and new security of tenure protections for long-term tenants.
Background
The proliferation of short-term holiday lets — primarily through platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com — has been a contentious issue in Ireland for the better part of a decade. In cities such as Dublin, Cork, and Galway, and in popular tourist destinations such as Kerry and Connemara, the conversion of residential properties to short-term holiday lets has been identified as a significant contributor to the reduction in the supply of long-term rental accommodation, driving up rents and making it harder for workers and families to find affordable homes.
Previous attempts to regulate the short-term letting market in Ireland were hampered by enforcement difficulties and by legal challenges from property owners who argued that restrictions on their ability to let their properties constituted an interference with their property rights. The new register, which was provided for in the Planning and Development Act 2024, takes a different approach, focusing on transparency and compliance rather than outright prohibition.
The register operates alongside a separate set of reforms to the long-term private rental market that came into force on 1 March 2026. These reforms, which were introduced through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2025, established a national rent control system and created new security of tenure protections for tenants in private rented accommodation.
Key Developments
Under the new Short-Term Letting Register, all hosts offering paid accommodation for twenty-one nights or less — whether in their own home, a second property, or a commercial premises — must register annually with Fáilte Ireland. The registration process requires hosts to confirm that they have the necessary planning permission for short-term letting and to provide details of the property and the number of nights per year for which it is let. A valid registration number must be displayed on all online listings, and platforms such as Airbnb are required to remove listings that do not display a valid number.
The registration fee is €100 per year for properties in designated rent pressure zones — the areas of highest housing demand, which include Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford — and €50 per year for properties outside these zones. Properties in rent pressure zones that are let for more than ninety nights per year require planning permission for change of use, a requirement that is expected to bring a significant number of properties back into the long-term rental market.
The long-term rental reforms that came into force in March include a national rent control system that caps annual rent increases at 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The reforms also create six-year "Tenancies of Minimum Duration," which provide tenants with greater security of tenure than the previous four-year cycle. However, a provision that allows landlords to reset rent to market rates when a property becomes vacant has been criticised by tenant advocacy groups as a significant loophole.
Why It Matters
The introduction of the Short-Term Letting Register represents a significant step in Ireland's long-running effort to bring the holiday let market under regulatory control. The register's effectiveness will depend heavily on enforcement — specifically, on whether Fáilte Ireland and local planning authorities have the resources to identify and act against non-compliant hosts. Previous regulatory initiatives in this area have been undermined by a lack of enforcement capacity, and there are concerns that the same problem may recur.
The broader package of rental reforms is the most significant intervention in the private rental market since the introduction of rent pressure zones in 2016. Whether the 2% rent cap will be effective in stabilising rents depends on whether it can be enforced consistently across the country, and on whether the loophole allowing market-rate resets on vacancy is exploited by landlords seeking to circumvent the cap.
Local Impact
In Dublin, where the short-term letting market is most concentrated, the register is expected to bring several thousand properties back into the long-term rental market over the next twelve months. Dublin City Council's planning enforcement team has been allocated additional resources to investigate non-compliant listings, and the council has confirmed that it will work with Fáilte Ireland to cross-reference the register against planning records.
In popular tourist areas such as Killarney, Dingle, and the Aran Islands, the register is expected to have a more complex effect, as short-term letting is a significant source of income for many local households and a key component of the tourism economy. Fáilte Ireland has confirmed that it will take a proportionate approach to enforcement in these areas, focusing initially on commercial operators rather than individual homeowners.
What's Next
Fáilte Ireland will publish the first quarterly report on register compliance in October 2026. The Department of Housing has committed to reviewing the effectiveness of the ninety-night cap in rent pressure zones after twelve months of operation. A Dáil committee hearing on the implementation of the rental reforms is scheduled for September 2026, at which Fáilte Ireland and the Residential Tenancies Board will be asked to give evidence on early compliance rates.
