Description

If you are working to a 14-day rule for short-term lets in Ireland, that number was repealed 7 months ago.

Since 1 March 2026 the planning definition has been a letting "for a period not exceeding 21 consecutive nights". Section 30 of the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 substituted it into section 3A of the Planning and Development Act 2000, and Statutory Instrument 67 of 2026 commenced that section on 1 March. The same substitution dropped the rent pressure zone limit, so short-term letting is now a material change of use anywhere in the state.

So planning and the register finally count the same way: 21 nights.

Last Tuesday the form arrived. Statutory Instrument 500 of 2026, sealed 29 September and notified in the official gazette on 2 October, creates Form 24. It accompanies the ordinary Form No. 2 on an application solely for retention of change of use to short-term letting. New article 33(4) limits the authority to further information on "matters of technical or environmental detail" needed for an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment "or new matters raised through the planning application public participation process", and such requests "may only be requested once by the planning authority".

Three things are not in that instrument and matter more.

1. Filing is not a shield. Section 162(3) of the Planning and Development Act 2000: "No enforcement action under this Part (including an application under section 160) shall be stayed or withdrawn by reason of an application for permission for retention of unauthorised development." Section 162(2) adds that applying is not a defence to prosecution. A retention application also needs a newspaper notice and a site notice, so it puts your unauthorised use in front of the council and every neighbour.
2. The two government bodies do not agree on the deadline. The department says "The register will open on 1 December and all hosts must register by 31 December 2026." The national tourism authority, which will operate it, says "Registration is not yet open" and "Registration for the short-term letting register will open once the necessary legislation has been passed." The Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill has still not been published.
3. Some operators have more time than the headline suggests. Providers in towns of 20,000 or fewer "have two years to meet national planning compliance requirements". And there is "a presumption in favour of granting planning permission for short-term letting where a dwelling has been used continuously for this purpose for at least seven years, and no enforcement action was taken".

Plan for 31 December. Do not bet on it. And check which number your planning authority thinks it is applying.