The EU Short-Term Rental Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 Explained

What Is the EU Short-Term Rental Regulation?

Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 — in full, the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services — is the EU's framework for bringing transparency to short-term lets such as Airbnb across the Union. It does not set rent caps or licensing rules itself; it standardises how hosts are registered and how booking platforms share activity data with national authorities. The full text is on EUR-Lex (CELEX:32024R1028).

For Irish hosts, the Regulation matters because it sits behind Ireland's own Short-Term Letting (STL) Register: the register issues the number, and the EU Regulation makes platforms display and enforce it. This guide explains the host obligations, the platform obligations, and what happens if you do not have a valid number.

When Does the Regulation Apply?

The Regulation was adopted on 11 April 2024. It came into force shortly after publication, but the substantive obligations on hosts and platforms were deferred for 24 months. On that basis the host and platform obligations apply from 20 May 2026 — a date derived from the Regulation's 24-month deferral rather than a single headline date in the text. In practice, the legal architecture exists across the EU from that point; Ireland's national mechanism, the STL Register, then goes live on 1 December 2026.

Host Obligations Under the Regulation

If you let short-term accommodation, the Regulation requires you to:

• Obtain a unique registration number from the competent authority. In Ireland, that authority is Fáilte Ireland, through the STL Register.
• Submit your details when you register — your identity, the unit's address, the property type, and its bed capacity, along with residency information.
• Display the registration number in every listing, on every platform you advertise on.
• Give the number to guests and to the platforms you list through.

The number is unit-specific: each property you let is registered and numbered separately.

Platform Obligations Under the Regulation

Booking platforms (such as Airbnb and Booking.com) carry their own duties:

• Display the number. Platforms must ensure each registration number is clearly shown in the listing.
• Share activity data monthly. Platforms transmit activity data — nights rented, guest numbers, countries of residence, the unit address, the registration number, and the listing URL — to the authorities on a monthly basis.
• Quarterly for small platforms. Small and micro platforms (those with fewer than 4,250 average monthly listings) report quarterly rather than monthly.

Delisting: What Happens Without a Valid Number

The Regulation gives enforcement teeth to national authorities. Competent authorities can order platforms to remove or disable listings that lack a valid registration number, that misuse one, or that fail to put it right within the time allowed. For an Irish host, that means a listing without a valid STL registration number can be taken down once the obligations are in force — the number is not a formality, it is the key that keeps your listing live.

How the EU Regulation Connects to Ireland's STL Register

The Regulation sets the EU-wide framework; each member state provides the registration mechanism. In Ireland that mechanism is the Short-Term Letting (STL) Register, run by Fáilte Ireland, which launches on 1 December 2026 and is mandatory by 31 December 2026. The register issues the unique number; the EU Regulation makes platforms display it and lets authorities enforce it. The two work as one system, sitting alongside the Government's wider short-term letting policy set out by the Department of Housing on gov.ie. For the Irish register detail, see our Short-Term Letting Register guide; for the registration deadline, see our register deadline guide; for the full picture of every 2026 change, see new Airbnb rules in Ireland 2026.

What It Means for Irish Hosts

The practical takeaway is simple: from when the obligations apply, every active short-term let needs a valid Irish registration number, displayed on every listing, with the platform sharing your activity data to the authorities behind the scenes. Missing or invalid numbers risk delisting. Hosts who run several units — the segment we work with — should treat registration and accurate, dated record-keeping as part of normal operations rather than a one-off scramble before the deadline.