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Irish Independent
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
More shared bathrooms in student accommodation under new design guide going to Cabinet
Higher Education Minister James Lawless will bring a memo before the Cabinet to formally note the design guide for state-supported student accommodation, developed after a construction cost study two years ago. The new design standards will include higher bed capacity in the purpose-built student accommodation, with greater use of twin rooms. There will also be more communal kitchens and shared bathrooms, which will replace the reliance on individual en suites. The design guide will look to help faster delivery and procurement savings in student accommodation development. The guide had stakeholder input from groups including experts, planners and students. It is hoped the new designs will encourage a more sociable experience for students. There will be ongoing engagement with the Department of Housing to integrate the design guide into Section 28 planning guidelines, which will see planning decisions made consistent across the country. It is expected that further refinements will be made to the guide. The new design guide comes as measures to protect students from rent increases in the new rental market system are yet to be fully agreed. Last week, when announcing that all current tenancies were to be brought in under a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ), Housing Minister James Browne confirmed that students in private rental accommodation will not have additional protections in the new rules. Concerns were raised in relation to students who rent for a limited period for the academic year and for trainee doctors who regularly move around the country. Those groups could be subject to increases in rent on a regular basis under rules to be brought in on March 1, 2026, which will allow landlords to reset rents to market rates when a tenant voluntarily leaves, or every six years. While students in the private market will not have additional protections, Mr Browne confirmed last week that measures will be brought in to support students in student-specific accommodation. Those measures have not been finalised yet.
RTÉ News
13-06-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Minister for Housing defends new Government rental measures
The Minister for Housing has defended new measures in relation to the rental market, saying they strike a balance between protecting tenants and supporting investment. Speaking in Galway this morning, James Browne acknowledged "there were a few different moving parts" in the planned legislation, but he said these were necessary, given the scale of the accommodation issues the country was facing. "There's always going to be a challenge around the complexity of doing anything like this, there's no one size fits all to bring a solution to this kind of complex situation," he said. He said a balance had to be struck between protecting tenants and ensuring that investors were willing to embark on building projects. The Minister said the Government wanted to protect existing tenants as well as increasing the supply of available rental properties. He said "a massive step change" was needed in this regard but that he believed the measures announced this week would help that to happen. He said investors needed certainty as to what the long term situation would be regarding tenants rights. Minister Browne said the current situation with Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs), where rent increases are limited to two per cent, meant investors could make a loss, if inflation rose above that figure. He said this was causing a "blockage" but that more needed to be done to address what he termed "a viability gap" for new builds. He said the Government would be taking other measures to close this gap in the coming weeks and months. The Minister added that a minimum security of tenure, of six years from next March, would protect renters entering into a new lease agreement, while allowing landlords to be able to reset rents "every so often". He said he felt the six year period struck the right balance in that regard. But he said landlords couldn't take advantage of this to reset rents "to a mad number" and would have to charge market rates or lower. The Residential Tenancies Board would adjudicate on any disputes that arose in this regard, and would be provided with additional resources to do this. Minister Browne made his comments after opening a new office for the Threshold housing charity in Galway, where the twin issues of housing affordability and supply are having a huge impact on the lives of thousands of people. He said he had secured cabinet approval to tackle the impact caused by short-term holiday lets on the wider rental market. "We're in a housing crisis, where there is an issue with supply, we have to take priority decisions, and the priority has to be for people to have homes over short term lets" he said. The Government has already proposed passing legislation to outlaw short term lets, in the absence of planning permission, in towns with a population of 10,000 or more. The Minister acknowledged that this would have some impact on those dependent on such income but said the wider need for housing had to be given precedence. He said there had been a lack of enforcement of existing legislation around short term lets, but said "it should come to an end now". Mr Browne said planned legislation would give "really strong enforcement powers to ban the advertisement of short term lets". He said he would also be open to giving more powers to local authorities in terms of enforcement. The Minister has a series of engagements in the area today, including a meeting with campaigners in Conamara, who say the number of planning approvals for new homes in Gaeltacht areas is impacting the chance Irish speakers have to live in their own communities. He is also due to open the first cost rental housing scheme in Galway city this afternoon.
Belfast Telegraph
24-04-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Short-term lets not primary cause of rental shortages, research suggests
Although the study found that it may 'exacerbate' the situation in some areas, restrictions on short-term lets may not have a 'significant' impact on the cost of private rents, it said. The study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), funded by the Department of Housing, looked at the use of Airbnb in Ireland. Amid the country's housing crisis, where homes available to buy and rent are limited and the government is under pressure to boost supply, there is concern that short-term letting risks reducing the country's rental properties. Ireland defines short-term lets as properties or rooms let out for up to two weeks at a time. As of 2023, there were 28,169 Airbnb listings in Ireland, comprising both entire properties and private rooms. As it stands, short-term letting hosts in Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) need to apply for 'change of use' planning permission if renting their main private residence for more than 90 days a year, or a property that is not their main residence for any length of time. These do not apply in non-RPZ areas. The government's Short-Term Letting Bill creates a register of short-term let properties in Ireland and limits their operation in areas with populations of more than 10,000 – effectively banning them from cities and other urban areas. Research published by the ESRI on Friday found there was 'no evidence' of a link between increases in short-term let activity and falls in new rental tenancy registrations between 2019-2023. The research said this did not mean short-term let activity has not, in some cases, had a detrimental impact on the private rental sector. The ESRI said it does suggest that short-term let activity is not the primary cause of falling new rental commencements or the lack of available rental accommodation nationwide. It also said that restricting short-term lets (STLs) may not have a significant impact on affordability in the private rental sector (PRS). 'Restrictions on STLs may not be expected to have a significant impact on affordability in the Irish PRS, as they do not address the fundamental issue of lack of supply in the PRS (and the housing sector more broadly). 'STL activity may exacerbate the situation in specific local areas, but it does not appear to be the root cause of the observed falls in available PRS properties. 'While appropriate and enforced regulation may be expected to result in some properties switching from the STL market to the PRS, given the sheer mismatch in scale between these potential switchers and the overall excess demand relative to supply, we may not expect to see an impact on prices for the PRS market overall.' The research found there is 'a very strong correlation' between Airbnb listings and previously recorded holiday homes in non-urban areas. The highest Airbnb to private rental sector ratios were in key coastal tourist locations with typically small rental sectors, as well as larger coastal towns with moderate rental sectors such as Westport in Co Mayo (1:3) and Killarney in Co Kerry (1:6). In urban areas, there is a significant presence in both Dublin and Galway inner cities despite the ratios being smaller (1:10 in Dublin's South East Inner City). It also found that 85% of Airbnb hosts have just one listing but that these accounted for just 59.6% of listings due to tourist letting agencies on the platform. Author of the ESRI report Dr Rachel Slaymaker said: 'Understanding the dynamics of the short-term let sector and its interaction with the rental sector is crucial for informed policymaking. 'Our findings highlight the importance of establishing a register covering all short-term let activity across Ireland to provide timely data to be used in conjunction with rental sector data to monitor activity, changes in usage patterns and particular pressures in local areas. 'This is crucial for ensuring a balanced approach to regulation that considers both the need for tourist accommodation and rental housing for locals.'
