Airbnb says that the Irish government’s proposed new fines for online platforms showing ads for illegal short-term lets “won’t work” as the platform doesn’t know how to comply with the new legal changes making it responsible.
New legislation will now hold online platforms liable for short term accommodation ads from property owners that do not have the correct planning permission to use their property as a short-term let.
Airbnb’s Derek Nolan said that the Irish government’s lack of consultation with Airbnb and other online accommodation platforms about the new rules means that they don’t currently know how to comply.
He said: “It’s still unclear as to what the obligations are and what is required. We have no way of knowing whether a property is your principal private residence or not. And we don’t see the point of doing stopgap measures that won’t solve the problem, instead of doing what the government committed to in the first place, which was to introduce a national online registration system.
“We have a reasonable expectation that we will be consulted and that the industry will be consulted. That includes hosts and communities right around Ireland that depend on guests and tourism.”
