Renting your property for short-term lets

A short-term let is when you rent out your property, or a room in your property, for people to stay for less than 14 days at a time. For example, if you rent out your property on a booking website such as Airbnb so people can stay there for a weekend.

What are the rules for short-term lets?

If you rent your property, or a room in it, for short-term lets, you need to either:

• Get planning permission from your local authority
• Apply for an exemption from your local authority

These short term letting regulations were introduced in 2019 and aim to bring properties used for short-term tourist lettings back to the long-term rental market.

The rules apply to Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) and are in force for as long as RPZs are in place. On 20 June 2025, Rent Pressure Zones were extended to all areas nationwide until 28 February 2026. So, the short-term letting regulations apply to all areas

A new system for regulating short-term lets is due to begin on 20 May 2026 and it includes a register for short-term lets. Details of how this will work are outlined below and are covered in the Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill and the EU Short Term Letting Regulation.

Short-term lets and taxes

If you are renting out your property for short-term lets, you need to declare the income you make from this to Revenue each year. See ‘What are my tax implications when renting a short-term let’ for more information.

Planning permission

If you are renting out a property for short-term lets, you may have to apply to your local authority for planning permission. You need to apply for planning permission to change the use of the property, so it can be used for tourism and short-term letting purposes.

This requirement for planning permission only applies if you are a homeowner who:

• Lets out your entire home (principal private residence) for short-term lets for more than 90 days in total while you are away. (Your principal private residence is the place where you ordinarily live).
• Lets out all or part of a second property for short-term lets

It is unlikely that planning permission for short-term lets will be granted in areas of high housing demand, where there is high rent inflation, insufficient supply and lots of applications.

You should ensure that you are not breaking any existing conditions of your property’s planning permission, by using your property for short-term lets.

Exemptions from the planning permission requirements

You do not have to apply for planning permission for your short-term let if:

• You let rooms or the entire property out for 15 days or more at a time
• Your property already has planning permission to be used for tourism or short-term letting purposes
• Your property is used for corporate or executive lets. For example, lettings provided for people coming to Ireland under employment contracts.
• You rent your property out under the rent-a-room scheme
• You are ‘home-sharing’. Home-sharing is where a homeowner rents a room or rooms in their principal private residence for short-term lets while they are also occupying it. (In this situation you can offer unlimited short-term lettings for less than 14 days at a time.)
• You rent out your entire principal private residence for short-term visitors for less than 90 days a year while you are temporarily away. The 90 days do not have to be consecutive. This short-term use must not break any existing conditions of your property’s planning permission and should match with how your property is approved to be used in its permission.
• The property is purpose-built student accommodation. (This accommodation generally has the required planning permission, which means accommodation is reserved for students during the academic year, but short-stays are allowed outside of term time.)

Note: If you own an apartment or house that is not your principal private residence and you rent it to students during the academic terms, but want to use it for short-term lettings during the summer holidays, you need to apply for planning permission from your local authority.

Registering with the planning authority

In certain situations, you need to register with the planning authority to get an exemption from the requirement for planning permission. This applies if:

• You rent a room in your principal private residence for short-term lets while you are also living there
• You are going to be away from your principle private residence, and you want to let it out on a short-term basis, for less than 90 days in a calendar year

See the How to apply section below for information on what you need to do to register with the planning authority.

For more information on these regulations see the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's FAQ's for Short-Term Lettings.

Your planning authority can take legal action against you if your property does not have the required permission, or where terms of the permission have not been met. This is set-out in the Planning and Development Act 2000.

To apply for planning permission to use a property for short-term lettings the usual fees for ‘change in use’ of a building from residential to commercial apply. See below.

There is no charge to register your short-term let with the local authority, if you are exempt from the planning permission requirement. But you need to notify them about the exemption, see ‘Registering with the local authority' below.

Applying for planning permission

For new short-term letting use, you should apply for planning permission. For existing unauthorised use, you apply for retention permission.

If you need to get planning permission, you can:

• Apply online on the Local Government Ireland’s website
• Complete a planning application form and send it to your local authority by post or email. You can get an application form from your local authority.

It normally takes about 8 weeks to process an application.

How does the local authority make their decision?

When the planning authority is making a decision on your planning application for a short-term let it considers if the area has:

• High housing demand
• High rent inflation
• Insufficient supply
• Lots of planning applications for short-term lets

If this is the case, it is unlikely that planning permission will be granted.

You can appeal a planning permission decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála. For more information on how to do this, read An Coimisiún Pleanála’s Guide to making a Planning Appeal.

Registering with the local authority

If you are offering short-term lettings but are exempt from the planning permission requirement, you still need to register with the local authority to get the exemption.

You must complete the following forms with any additional documents needed and send them to your local authority within the required time limits.

• Form 15 – Start of year notification form. This form should be sent to your local authority within 4 weeks of the start of each year, and no later than 2 weeks before the first short-term let of the year for that property.
• Form 17 – End of year notification form. This should be sent to your local authority between the 1 and 28 January of the year after the lettings have taken place.
• Form 16 – 90 day threshold notification form. This should only be sent to your local authority if you are a homeowner temporarily away from your home and reach the 90 day threshold during the year. You should submit the form no more than 2 weeks after the 90 day threshold has been reached.

You also have to provide documents proving that the property is your principal private residence.

These registration forms are available on your local authority's website.

A new online short-term letting register will be launched on 20 May 2026. You will have to register your short-term let, if you rent it out for stays of up to 21 nights at a time.

You will get a unique registration number when you register. This number must be displayed when you advertise your short-term let on online short-term rental platforms and in other advertisements.

The short-term letting register will be maintained by Fáilte Ireland. You will need renew your registration every year.

When you register, you will have to declare that your property complies with the planning requirements. This will help local authorities enforce the planning requirements for short-term lets.

Property owners, and websites that advertise short-term lets, will be fined if the properties being advertised do not display a short-term letting registration number

Who will have to register?

You will have to register your short-term let with Failte Ireland if you offer short-term accommodation for 21 nights or less.

This applies to the following properties if they are let on a short-term basis:

• Bedrooms in your main home
• Entire properties, such as a house, apartment, cabin, boat, treehouse, or glamping pod

What type of accommodation will not have to register?

Some properties rented for short stays will not have to register on the short-term letting register because other rules may apply to them. This includes:

• Hotels and similar accommodation, including resort hotels
• Suite or apartment hotels and motels
• Hostels
• Guesthouses
• Accommodation provided in camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks

How will I register? 

To register your short-term let with Failte Ireland, you will need to:

• Provide your details
  • If you are an individual host, you need to give your name, address, email address, phone number, date of birth and PPSN
  • If you are registering the short-term let for a company, you need to give the business name, company registration number, business email address, registered business address, legal representative for the company, legal representative contact telephone number
• Provide information about your property, including the full address, Eircode and the type and size of your short-term let
• Make a legal declaration confirming that your short-term let complies with planning, building and fire safety requirements
• Pay a registration fee

Why do I need to register? 

Once you are registered with Fáilte Ireland, you will get a short-term letting registration number. You will need this number to list your property on holiday booking websites and in advertisements.

Booking platforms will only be able to list short-term let properties with a valid Fáilte Ireland registration number.

Your short-term let property will also be listed on the short-term letting register on the Fáilte Ireland website.

More information about the planned register

Fáilte Ireland has more information about the planned register including an FAQ that answers some of the main questions about it.

The General Scheme of the new Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill (pdf) and the and the EU Short Term Letting Regulation set out how the new register will work.

You must pay tax on any income you make from renting accommodation to guests on a short-term basis. This income must be declared to Revenue each year. You can complete and submit your tax return form online using:

• Revenue's myAccount Service if you are a PAYE taxpayer (Form 12)
• Revenue Online Service (ROS) if you are self-employed or a PAYE taxpayer with other sources of income (Form 11)

Alternatively, you can complete a hard-copy annual tax return and return it to your local tax office.

How is income from short-term lets taxed?

The income you make from short-term lets is not considered to be rental income for tax purposes. This is because your visitors use your accommodation as guests rather than tenants.

This income is taxed as:

• Other income, if the income is occasional
• Trading income, if you are trading as an ongoing business, such as a bed and breakfast or a guesthouse

The tax office can answer any queries you may have and will help if you have any difficulties completing the form. Find more information in our document on ‘How to comply with your tax obligations’ or on revenue.ie.