Short-term letting in County Wicklow: coast towns and mountain villages

The Garden of Ireland has two faces for owners. On the coast, Bray and Greystones are seaside towns within easy reach of Dublin by DART, attracting weekenders and people visiting family. Inland, the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough, the Sally Gap, Avoca and the walking trails bring hikers and film-location tourists, while Arklow and Wicklow town serve the southern coast. The county shares in Dublin's demand without Dublin's density.

Two regimes in one county

The National Planning Statement approved in June 2026 draws its line at 20,000 residents. Bray, with over 33,000, and Greystones, just above 22,000 at the 2022 Census, are on the strict side: new short-let permission there is presumed refused, save for narrow exceptions such as vacant space above shops. Existing lets in those towns are expected to be compliant when they register.

Everywhere else, including Wicklow town, Arklow, Blessington and the mountain villages, the council weighs local housing need, concentration of short lets and ordinary planning risks. Existing operators there have two years to regularise.

Options that apply across the county

• Home-sharing in the house you live in, exempt once notified.
• Letting your own home while away, up to 90 days a year.
• Seven or more years of continuous letting without enforcement, which the statement treats as grounds for granting permission.

Rural and upland properties

Many houses in the mountains are subject to rural housing conditions, and parts of the uplands carry landscape designations in the development plan. Check the original grant before applying for tourist use.

Register and tax

Fáilte Ireland's register is expected to open on 1 December 2026, with a number required on every listing. Regular commercial letting is taxed as a trade; occasional letting as other income. In managed apartment schemes in Bray and Greystones, the owners' management company's house rules may also limit what you can do.

Our advice

In Wicklow, first establish which regime your address falls under; the answer changes the whole plan. Send us your property's details; we study every request and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.

Estates, studios and the long-distance trail

Wicklow draws guests who would never mention "the coast" or "the mountains" in their search. Powerscourt, near Enniskerry, combines formal gardens with the highest waterfall in the country and hosts weddings. Russborough House near Blessington, and the lakes and greenway next to it, bring day visitors who increasingly stay over. Mount Usher gardens at Ashford and the old gaol in Wicklow town add rainy-day options.

Film and television production is a genuine source of mid-length stays. Ardmore Studios in Bray and the studio at Ashford have hosted large international productions, and crews look for furnished homes for weeks at a time, often with parking for several cars.

The Wicklow Way, which starts on the southern edge of Dublin and crosses the county, and the cliff path between Bray Head and Greystones bring walkers throughout the year. Brittas Bay's dunes fill with families on warm weekends.

Practical consequences:

• Upland roads such as the Sally Gap and the Wicklow Gap can be closed or dangerous in snow and fog; guests need a winter warning.
• Public transport inland is thin, so a house near Laragh or Roundwood is realistically a car-only booking.
• Wedding parties at the estates book whole houses and expect early access for dressing.

The 20,000-resident line, applied to Wicklow's own towns

The threshold that puts Bray and Greystones on the strict side of the National Planning Statement is a population count, not a distance from Dublin: Arklow, at roughly 13,000 residents in the 2022 Census, sits well under 20,000 and therefore falls into the more permissive tier alongside Wicklow town, even though it is the county's second-largest settlement and shares much of the same coastal demand as Bray. An owner comparing two similar seafront houses in Bray and Arklow is comparing two different planning regimes, not two versions of the same rule.

The seven-year continuous use provision matters most in exactly these smaller towns, where enforcement has historically been thinner than in Bray or Greystones: a property let without incident since before 2019 has a stronger paper case for regularisation than one started in the last two years, and the statement treats that history as grounds for granting permission rather than merely tolerating it.