Most coverage of Ireland's new short-term letting rules reads like bad news for anyone with a dedicated let in a city. Planning permission for short-term letting in towns over 20,000 people will generally not be granted, and you have to declare planning compliance when you register with Fáilte Ireland by 31 December 2026.

There's an exception, and it's the most important one in the whole regime if it applies to you.

What the provision actually says

Where a dwelling has been used continuously for short-term letting for at least seven years, and no enforcement action was taken during that time, there is a presumption in favour of granting planning permission.

Two things make this significant.

First, nothing in the published guidance limits it by town size. Every other restriction in the new policy splits between towns over and under 20,000 people. This one doesn't appear to, which would make it the main route available to long-standing operators in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, precisely the hosts who otherwise have the fewest options.

Second, it reverses the default. Normally you're arguing why permission should be granted. Here the starting position is that it should be, and the council needs a reason to refuse.

What "presumption in favour" does not mean

It does not mean automatic. It does not mean you can skip the process. You still have to apply, and you're applying for retention permission, which is the route used where development or a change of use has already happened without permission.

The presumption also has conditions attached. It applies where the use would not:

• create a serious traffic hazard

• create a flooding or pollution risk

• breach occupancy-related planning conditions on the property

That last one is worth reading twice. If your property was built under a planning condition restricting who can occupy it, a rural occupancy condition being the common example, the seven-year presumption will not override it.

The two words that will decide your case

"Continuously." The guidance doesn't define how continuous is continuous. Seasonal operation is normal in Irish tourism, and a coastal property that closes from November to February is still, in ordinary usage, in continuous short-term letting use. Whether a council reads it that way is untested. If you have gaps of a year or more, that's a harder argument.

"No enforcement action was taken." This means no enforcement action by the planning authority. A warning letter or enforcement notice from your local authority would likely take you outside the provision. Complaints from neighbours that never became formal enforcement action should not, but this is exactly the sort of thing worth checking on your council's planning enforcement register before you apply.

Start assembling your evidence now

The burden is on you to show seven years of continuous use. Nobody is going to take your word for it, and this is the one part you can get on with today regardless of when the legislation passes.

Useful evidence includes:

• Platform booking history. Airbnb and Booking.com both let you export transaction and reservation history. Do this before you need it, and export the full range rather than the last tax year.

• Revenue filings. Your Form 11 or Form 12 returns declaring short-term letting income are dated, official and hard to argue with. Arguably the strongest single item.

• Bank statements showing platform payouts across the period.

• Dated listing screenshots, and captures of your listing URL on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which often has snapshots going back years.

• Cleaning, laundry and maintenance invoices, which demonstrate operational continuity in the gaps between bookings.

• Utility bills showing the usage pattern of a let rather than a vacant or long-term-occupied property.

Seven years back from the end of 2026 means evidence from late 2019 onward. Some of that predates accounts you may no longer log into, so treat retrieval as the first job.

What it costs

Retention permission is more expensive than ordinary permission. Applying for a change of use from residential to commercial, the fees are:

A simplified administrative version of the retention application process, specifically for short-term lets, is being introduced. Details haven't been published. If your case isn't urgent, waiting for that route may be cheaper and faster than applying under the current process, though you're then betting on the timeline.

When you do eventually apply, budget around eight weeks for a decision, longer if it goes to An Coimisiún Pleanála on appeal. Read the next section before you file anything.

Why applying too early can leave you worse off

This is the part most people get wrong, and it's worth understanding before you file anything.

A planning application is public and permanent. It goes on your council's planning register and stays there. Planning history is a material consideration, so if you're refused, a later application for substantially the same thing tends to be refused on consistency grounds unless something material has changed.

A retention application carries a second edge. In substance it's a written notice to your council that unauthorised development is happening on your site. If it's refused, the council is left holding documented evidence of an unauthorised use, supplied by you. That can invite exactly the enforcement action you were trying to head off.

Now put that against the timing. The seven-year presumption is not law yet. Neither is the simplified retention route. Anyone applying today is applying under the old framework, without the benefit of either. If you're refused now, you'll be facing the better regime with an adverse planning history, which is the worst available sequence.

So separate the two things:

• Establishing your status is private and reversible. Check the planning register for your property's history, check for an enforcement file, check whether an existing permission already covers tourism use, count your years, take private professional advice. None of it creates a record.

• Applying is public and permanent. Do it once, with your strongest case, under the most favourable rules available.

The honest caveat

This provision comes from the draft National Planning Statement on Short-Term Letting and the general scheme of the Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025. Neither is enacted. The seven-year presumption could be narrowed, given an explicit town-size limit, or have its conditions tightened before it becomes law.

So gather the evidence now, because that costs you nothing but an afternoon and is useful whatever happens. Hold off on the application itself until the final Bill is published and the simplified retention route is known, unless you have a specific reason to move sooner.

Waiting isn't free of risk either. The 2019 regulations are live, Rent Pressure Zones went nationwide on 20 June 2025, and councils can enforce in the meantime. But an application filed early and refused is the harder position to recover from.

I'll update this page when the Bill lands.

Where this sits in the wider picture

Registration with Fáilte Ireland opens on 1 December 2026 and closes on 31 December 2026, and the planning declaration is part of it.

• Not sure whether you need permission at all? Start with do I need planning permission for my Airbnb in Ireland?

• For the full sequence of registration dates, see Ireland's Short-Term Letting Register 2026: every deadline, in order

If you've been letting for seven years or more and you're trying to work out whether the property is worth holding under the new rules, that's partly a planning question and partly a numbers question. Send me the listing and I'll come back with a free review of where it stands on performance, and what the new regime is likely to do to it in 2027.

Based on the draft National Planning Statement on Short-Term Letting, the general scheme of the Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025, and guidance from Citizens Information. This is general information, not legal or planning advice. Planning enforcement is a matter for your local authority, and you should take professional planning advice before making a retention application.

Sources

• Draft National Planning Statement on Short-Term Letting

• Short-term letting in Ireland, what you need to know, Dept. of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment

• Renting your property for short-term lets, Citizens Information

• General Scheme, Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill 2025