4 July 2017
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
The Green Party in Cork has renewed its call for Cork local authorities to step up in regulating improper Airbnb rentals as part of efforts to resolve the housing crisis
The party renewed its call in Cork after Dublin City Council announced that it was taking action against more than 25 Airbnb-style rentals in the Dublin. Last year, An Bord Pleanála upheld a Dublin City Council decision that planning permission was needed to change the use of a property from residential use to short-term letting, such as through Airbnb.
Research by the Green Party found over 300 Cork properties listed on Airbnb this month while fewer than 200 were listed for rent on Daft.ie.
Speaking this evening, Oliver Moran, the Green Party representative in Cork North Central, said:
“From our research, the situation appears to have gotten worse since we first looked at it last December. The number of Cork houses listed on Airbnb has remained constant while the number of rentals available in the city has gotten fewer.”
“Two hundred of those listed on Airbnb were entire homes for short-term rent to tourists. We’re talking bungalows in Balllinlough, apartments in Atkin’s Hall, terrace houses in Blackrock and Shandon, five bedroom homes in Carrigtwohill. These are being rented to tourists for up to €200 per night while families are being put up in hotels because they cannot afford a home. It’s scandalous. What other country in the world would put families into hotels and tourists into homes?”
In May, Daft.ie published a report into rental prices for the first quarter of 2017. It found that rental prices in Cork increased by over 10% last year and are now 10% higher than they were at the peak of the last property bubble in 2008.
