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How to qualify for a 12.5 per cent allowance on rates for rental properties

If you are responsible for paying rates on one or more rental properties, you may be entitled to a 12.5 per cent allowance in rates, regardless of the capital value of your properties.

How to qualify for the 12.5 per cent allowance in rates

To qualify, you must meet the following criteria:

  • have a portfolio of one or more properties that you own and rent to tenants
  • have accepted rates liability for all properties within the portfolio
  • have an Agent Agreement form signed and witnessed by another person of 18 years of age or over - this agreement will remain in force until the 31 March in any year or until the property is sold
  • pay the full discounted amount by 30 September each year

Your residential address and any personal holiday homes/second homes you may own cannot be included on the Agent schedule, as these properties are not eligible for the 12.5 per cent discount. This also applies to any business properties which you or your company operate from.

Rating of Empty Homes

Rating of Empty Homes has had very little impact upon landlords who already had an Article 21 account and received a 12.5 per cent allowance as they had already accepted responsibility to pay rates on their properties whether they are occupied or empty.  

Removing a property from your schedule

If you want to remove a property from your Agent schedule, a request must be made in writing, no less than six months before the end of the rating year. The property will be removed for the start of the following rating year.

How to apply

If you feel that you meet all the necessary criteria you can apply to Land & Property Services (LPS) to have your agent account set up. You must complete and return the relevant form to LPS. This is a writeable document, which means that you can complete on screen, print and send to LPS. Alternatively, you can save the document to your desktop, complete the form and send as an attachment to LPS landlords section - contact details are at the bottom of the page:

You can also contact LPS who can issue a form to you. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.

Successful applications

If you meet the qualifying criteria, you will be granted agent status. LPS will then:

  • amend your rate account to reflect that your account now has agent status
  • issue you with a new bill, unless you have already paid your current rate bill(s)

All properties that meet the criteria and have the same billing address can be listed under one Ratepayer ID. This allows you to receive a single bill for all your properties, instead of individual bills for each one.

Rejected applications

If you do not meet the qualifying criteria, LPS will contact you to let you know and if they need more information, they will contact you directly.

How to add another property to an existing rate bill

If you wish to add another rental property to your portfolio, you must detail your request in writing and send to the address below:

Land & Property Services
Central Landlords Team
Lincoln Building
27 - 45 Great Victoria Street
Malone Lower
BELFAST
BT2 7SL

You can also call LPS and ask to speak to the Central Landlord Team. However, LPS will still need written confirmation of your request. Contact details are at the bottom of the page.

What happens if you add a new property after 30 September?

If you add another property to your portfolio after 30 September each year, you will be issued with a bill for this individual property. To avail of the 12.5 per cent allowance, payment must be received by the date quoted on the bill, which will be one month from the date of issue of the bill. If payment is not received by this time the allowance will not be awarded

Change of ownership

If the ownership of one of your properties changes you must inform LPS immediately. Please send written confirmation to:

Land & Property Services
Central Landlords Team
Lincoln Building
27 - 45 Great Victoria Street
Malone Lower
BELFAST
BT2 7SL

You can also call LPS and ask to speak to the Central Landlords Team. However, LPS will still need written confirmation of your request. Contact details are at the bottom of the page.

You should inform LPS immediately of any change of ownership otherwise you will continue to receive a rate bill for this property.

Providing proof of change of ownership

You must provide a copy of the solicitor’s letter showing the following:

  • completion date of the sale
  • name and contact details of the new owner or name of the solicitor/estate agent who acted on behalf of the new owner

How to pay your rate bill

For full details on how you can pay your agent’s rate account, please click on the link below:

Contact details for landlords section

Land & Property Services
Central Landlords Team
Lincoln Building
27 - 45 Great Victoria Street
Malone Lower
BELFAST
BT2 7SL

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