How to pay your rate account on rental properties

There are a number of different methods for paying rates on rental properties. This page shows the options available.

Payment options for landlords and agents

If you are responsible for rates on a single property, you will receive an individual bill, including the Rates Quickpay card. However, if you have more than one rental property, you can ask for all your properties to be included on one bill.

Land & Property Services (LPS) offers a range of different methods for paying rates on your rental properties. If you pay your bill in full before 30 September using any of these methods, you will receive your allowance.

If your rate account is not credited with the amount you owe by 30 September you will not receive your landlord’s allowance of 7.5 per cent or agent’s allowance of 12.5 per cent.

You should always allow a minimum of five working days for your payment to be processed, so if you make a payment on or after 23 September you risk the payment not being processed on time, and therefore not receive your allowance.

Payment methods

The various payment options are as follows:

by cheque at an LPS office
by cheque at a post office
BACS
single Direct Debit payment
instalments

By Cheque at an LPS office

cheque payments for bills with more than one property should be accompanied by a breakdown of how much is to be paid to each property
make your cheque payable to ‘Land & Property Services’
cross it ‘Rate Account’
send it to the address shown on the top of your bill
on the back of the cheque you must clearly print the address of the property. Also include your account ID number and your ratepayer ID number
a receipt will not be issued for postal payments unless you provide a stamped addressed envelope

By Cheque at a Post Office

this method of payment only applies to landlords with single property accounts and not those who receive a schedule bill
make your cheque payable to Post Office Ltd
on the back of the cheque they must clearly print the address of the property - also include your account ID number and ratepayer ID number
you will need the Rates Quickpay card which is attached to your card to make your payment

Important notice about Post Office payments: If you pay at a Post Office, you should allow a minimum of 10 working days for the payment to be credited to your rate account.

Send a payment from your bank or building society

You can pay through your bank or building society quoting the following numbers:

sort code 95-01-21
bank account number 01063197

You must quote the full 16 digit reference number which is made up from your account ID and ratepayer ID and can be found at the top right-hand corner of your rate bill. Include the zeros at the beginning with no spaces or dashes, for example 0123456789105568.

Please use the link below for an explanation of where to find these numbers:

Single Direct Debit payment

You can complete and return the Direct Debit form in the link below. This is a writeable document, which means that you can complete on screen, print and send to the LPS.freepost address shown on the form. Alternatively, you can save the document to your desktop, complete the form and send as an attachment to LPS Direct Debit section:

Alternatively, you can call LPS and ask to speak to the Direct Debit Team to arrange this over the telephone. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.

Important Notice about Single Direct Debit Payments

Single direct debit payments will be lifted from your bank account on the last banking day in September, so you should ensure that sufficient funds are in place.

If your rate account is not credited with the amount you owe by 30 September you will not receive your landlord’s allowance of 7.5 per cent or agent’s allowance of 12.5 per cent.

Instalments

You can also opt to pay your rate account over ten monthly instalments, using any of the methods above. However if you chose this option you will not be entitled to the 7.5 per cent landlord’s allowance or 12.5 per cent agent’s allowance, as you must have paid the balance on your account in full by 30 September.

If you add properties to your account during the year, you should contact LPS Central Collection Team, as they may have to cancel and restart your Direct Debit. Contact details can be found at the bottom of this page.

Consequences of not paying your rate bill

If you choose not to pay your rates by instalments, then you must pay your account in full by 30 September, otherwise the LPS system will automatically start recovery action against you for the outstanding amount. This means:

you will receive a final demand
you may be taken to court

It is illegal to withhold payment of rates. If you wish to make a complaint because your allowance has been withheld, you must still pay the full amount until your complaint has been resolved. If your complaint is upheld LPS will award the allowance retrospectively. If your complaint is unsuccessful LPS will pursue recovery of the outstanding debt.

LPS contact details

e-mail: landlords@lpsni.gov.uk
e-mail: DirectDebitRating@lpsni.gov.uk
phone: 0300 200 7801
textphone: 1800 1101