From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Less than 1% of properties available for short-term letting in the city have secured legally-required planning permission.

At a time when fewer than 30 properties are available to rent in the city and suburbs, more than 600 are advertised for short term lettings across a variety of websites.

Councillor Níall McNelis (Lab) said the City Council’s Planning Department had confirmed to him this week that just six property owners had sought and received planning permission for short-term lets, a specific requirement in a Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) like Galway.

“We still have this farcical situation where we have families living in hotels and tourists staying in what should be family homes,” said Cllr McNelis.

“It’s clear that legislation introduced by the Government in 2019 which states these lettings should have planning permission in the RPZs is not working.”

In total, across city and county, there are almost 900 properties advertised for tourist lets on platforms such as Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com.

Homelessness agencies were crying out for tighter regulation of the market, said Cllr McNelis, as these rentals were making it impossible to find accommodation for those currently languishing in emergency accommodation.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the August 4 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.