How to value your property for Local Property Tax

If you are the owner of a residential property on 1 November, you have to pay Local Property Tax (LPT).

The tax is based on the value of your property. The value of your property on 1 November 2021 is used to decide how much LPT you pay each year for the years 2022 to 2025.

If you have a property that is newly built or renovated, you should assess the value it would have had on 1 November 2021 if it had been completed then.

You must tell Revenue what the market value of your property is. Revenue provides guidance on how you can assess the value of your property and also has an online valuation tool you can use.

If you have a property that is exempt from LPT, you must still value your property and submit your Local Property Tax return to claim an exemption.

If you have submitted your return, you can correct your property valuation if the value you assessed was too high or too low.

LPT is a self-assessment tax. This means that you calculate the tax you have to pay based on your own assessment of the market value of your property. Revenue does not value properties for LPT but it provides an online valuation tool and guidance on how you can value your property yourself.

You should use information about properties that are similar to yours, for example, properties that are a similar type, age and size.

You should keep a copy of any information sources that you use and any other supporting documentation. Revenue may request this from you if it reviews your assessment.

Revenue valuation tool

Revenue provides an online valuation tool that will give you the average values for property in your area. You need to take into account the specific features of your property compared to others to decide whether it is within the average valuation band given for your area. For example, your property could be smaller or bigger than the average in your area.

If the average valuation band that is given does not match your property’s value, you should use other sources to help you to value it. Some useful sources of information on property values are listed below.

Residential Property Price Register

You can use the Residential Property Price Register to see the price of properties that have been sold in your area. You can see the sale price of properties that are a similar type, age and size to yours. You should use a number of relevant sales to help you make your valuation. To get the value for new properties sold, you have to add 13.5% VAT to the sales price shown on the register.

Professional valuation

You can choose to use a professional valuer who will value your property for a fee. However, you are not required to get a professional to value your property for you.

Other information sources

You can refer to other available information about properties in your area to help you value your property. These information sources could include, for example:

• Newspapers or other media sources
• Information from local estate agents
• Property sales websites such as daft, myhome.ie and geowox

When you value your residential property, you include the value of related land and buildings. These are lands or buildings that have a residential or domestic purpose or that have value as amenities. For example, this could be a:

• Yard, garden or patio
• Driveway or parking space
• Garage, shed or greenhouse
• Garden room or home office

If the land is larger than one acre, you only need to include land up to one acre (0.4047 hectares). This should be the area that is most suitable for enjoyment with the residential property, this is usually the land closest to the property.

Farms

If your residential property is on a farm, you do not have to include the following in your valuation:

• Land adjoining a farmhouse that is used as farmland
• Sheds used for farming purposes, for example, to store hay or to house farm animals

Self-contained units and bedsits

If part of a building is used as a dwelling, or is suitable for use as a dwelling, it is generally treated as a separate residential property. For example, a self-contained ‘granny flat’ that adjoins the main property is liable for LPT.

However, where the 'granny flat' and the adjoining property is owned by the same person, it may be possible to value them as a single property. If you wish to do this, you should submit details of the layout of the property and its ownership to Revenue LPT Branch for approval.

If a building contains units that are not suitable for use as self-contained dwellings, such as a bedsit, the building as a whole should be valued for LPT purposes in the same LPT Return.

If your property has been adapted to make it more suitable for a person with disability, you may be eligible to reduce the property valuation. If you are eligible for this relief, you can reduce your valuation by €87,500, which is the width of most the LPT valuation bands. This will move your valuation into a lower valuation band and reduce your LPT Charge.

You are eligible for this relief if:

• You adapt your property to make it suitable for a person with a disability and
• The value of your property is increased because of the adaptation work and
• A person with a disability lives in your property and it is their sole or main residence and
• You get a local authority grant towards the cost of the adaption work or you got approval from Revenue for the relief

The person with a disability who lives in the adapted property does not have to be the owner of the property.

To claim relief for an adapted property, you should complete Form LPT6A (pdf) and submit it to Revenue.

There is an exemption for properties that have been constructed, acquired or adapted for a person who is permanently and totally incapacitated.

If your property has pyrite or mica damage, you can take this into account when self-assessing the market value of your property as at 1 November 2021.

You may also qualify for:

• Exemption from LPT for properties with pyrite damage or
• Exemption from LPT for properties constructed using defective concrete blocks