Crackdown on Killarney property owners over short-term letting of homes

Kerry County Council has issued more than 180 warning letters to property owners in a major crackdown on short-term letting of homes, with more than 90% of the cases in the Killarney area alone

Kerry County Council had sought almost €170,000 in central Government funding so it could begin a clampdown on the widespread unauthorised use of property for short-term rent, Airbnb, and holiday home rentals.

A local authority has issued more than 180 warning letters to property owners in a major crackdown on short-term letting of homes, with more than 90% of the cases in the Killarney area alone.

Kerry County Council had sought almost €170,000 in central Government funding so it could begin a clampdown on the widespread unauthorised use of property for short-term rent, Airbnb, and holiday home rentals.

The local authority said it had since investigated 195 properties with 183 warning letters issued to property owners.

It said 93% – or 170 – of the warning letters had related to short-term lets in the local electoral area of Killarney, the county’s most important location for tourism.

The council said 118 files remain open, with a further 77 closed where the owner had either formally registered their property for short-term lets or withdrawn it from the short-term rental market.

According to internal records, Kerry County Council applied for funding from the Department of Housing to carry out a blitz on short-term letting not long after Killarney was designated a rent pressure zone in April 2020.

In an application, the local authority said its enforcement unit was already “extremely busy” dealing with its day-to-day work.

The funding letter said: “From research carried out during 2019, there were substantial numbers of properties registered on Airbnb for the Killarney [area] and Killarney Town in particular, where there were over 500 properties alone or on Airbnb.” 

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It said it was looking for just under €170,000 so it could hire two additional staff for a crackdown that would run between August 2020 and the end of next month.

In granting the funding, the Department of Housing said it would “expect to see positive results” once the new staff were in place.

It warned funding must only be used for short-term letting enforcement and that staff could only be hired on a contract or temporary basis.

The department said it would also be seeking regular progress reports, including research on the prevalence of short-term lets in the area.

It said it was also investigating options around legal searches to allow for “more efficient use of resources and the sharing of practical enforcement activity”.

A spokesman for Kerry County Council said: “The use of a dwelling or apartment in its entirety for short-term letting, irrespective if it is located in a rent pressure zone or not, constitutes a change of use and is, therefore, unauthorised unless planning permission has been granted for its use as a holiday home.” 

He said they also wanted to remind anybody still engaged in short-term letting to register with the council or to submit the relevant year-end paperwork if they were already signed up.