Home-sharing and letting your own home in Ireland

Updated 27 September 2026. Ireland's short-let rules are often described as a ban, but they leave two routes open to anyone who lets the home they actually live in: sharing it with guests while you are there, and letting it while you are away for a limited number of days. Both avoid the need for planning permission. Neither is free of paperwork, and both are about to meet the new national register. Here is how they work in practice.

Why your own home is treated differently

Since 20 June 2025 the whole State has been a Rent Pressure Zone, and inside those zones the 2019 planning regulations treat short letting of a property that is not your home as a change of use needing permission. The regulations were aimed at homes being taken out of the long-term market. A home in which the owner still lives is not lost to housing, which is why the exemptions exist. Everything below depends on the property being your principal private residence, and you will be asked to prove it.

Route one: home-sharing

Home-sharing means letting one or more rooms in your principal private residence to guests for short stays while you continue to live there. There is no cap on the number of nights. You must, however, notify the planning authority. Citizens Information describes the sequence:

• Form 15, the start-of-year notification, within four weeks of the start of each year and at least two weeks before your first short let.
• Form 17, the end-of-year notification, between 1 and 28 January following the year of letting.

Each form comes with evidence that the property is your principal private residence. Keep copies of what you send and proof of the date you sent it.

Route two: letting your home while you are away

If you leave your home for a holiday, a work assignment or a long visit to family, you can let the whole property for short stays for up to 90 days in a year without planning permission. The 90 days do not have to be consecutive. The same start-of-year and end-of-year forms apply, and one more is added: Form 16, to be sent within two weeks of reaching the 90-day threshold. Beyond 90 days, the exemption ends and permission would be required.

Counting correctly is your responsibility. A calendar showing each night let, with booking references, is the simplest proof if a council ever asks.

What the definition of a short let means here

Under the rules in force today, a short-term let is a stay of less than 14 days. The National Planning Statement approved on 19 June 2026 moves that definition to stays of up to 21 nights, and the register uses the 21-night figure. Stays of longer than the definition fall outside the short-let rules, which matters if you host visiting academics or contract workers for several weeks.

The register applies to you too

The Fáilte Ireland register, announced to open on 1 December 2026 with registration expected by 31 December 2026, covers home-sharers and people letting their homes while away, not only investors. Each unit you offer needs its own number displayed on every listing. You will give personal details including your PPSN, the address and Eircode, the type and size of the property, and a declaration that it complies with planning, building and fire-safety requirements. For a home-sharer, the planning part of that declaration rests on having filed the notification forms properly, so do not treat them as a formality. The Short-Term Letting and Tourism Bill was still before the Oireachtas at the time of writing, so check the opening date nearer the time.

Tax: not rent-a-room relief

Many people assume that letting a room in their home is covered by rent-a-room relief. It is not, when the room is used for short-term guest accommodation: Revenue treats such income separately, as trading income when you let frequently and run it as a business, or as other income under Case IV when it is occasional. Declare it through myAccount on Form 12 if you are a PAYE worker, or through ROS if you file Form 11. Platforms report host earnings to Revenue under the DAC7 rules, so the figures will be matched.

Practical points that are easy to miss

• Your mortgage: a residential mortgage is based on owner-occupation; ask your lender whether letting rooms or the whole home while away is permitted.
• Your insurance: tell your home insurer; paying guests are a different risk from family visitors.
• Your building: in an apartment, the lease and the management company's house rules still apply.
• Safety: working smoke alarms, a carbon monoxide alarm where there are fuel-burning appliances, a fire blanket and clear escape routes are the minimum guests should expect.
• Privacy: lock away personal documents and valuables; a guest-ready room is not the same as a spare room.

When these routes do not fit

If you no longer live in the property, the exemptions do not apply, whatever the number of nights. The options then are planning permission where local policy allows it, a longer-term tenancy, or a mid-term let for stays beyond the short-let definition. Our guide to the Irish rules and our article on planning permission go into those choices.

How we can help

Hosting in your own home works best with a routine: consistent cleaning, clear house rules and a calendar you can defend. Tell us about your home and how you would like to use it; we study every request and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.