Disabled Person's Allowance
Some ratepayers may be able to get a 25 per cent discount in their rates if they’ve suitably changed a property to meet the needs of an adult or child with permanent disabilities who lives in the household.
Qualifying for Disabled Person's Allowance
Having a disability does not automatically entitle you to a decrease in your rates. This allowance is not means tested. To apply, you don't need to provide information about your income and savings.
The allowance is 25 per cent discount in rates for any household where:
- a person with a disability lives
- the property has been adapted internally or has additional facilities added to suit the disabled person's needs
There must be a clear link between how the property has been adapted and the person's disability.
Criteria for adaptations
The property must be adapted to meet the needs of a person with a disability who lives in your home. Types of adaptations that qualify are:
- a room, other than a kitchen, bathroom or toilet, which is wholly used by the person with a disability for treatment or therapy
- an extra kitchen for the person with a disability
- an extra toilet for the person with a disability (including an ensuite)
- an extra bathroom (including extra toilets and an ensuite)
- enough floor space to use a wheelchair easily inside the property (wheelchairs for outdoor use only are excluded)
Each of these features must be essential or of major importance to the well-being of the disabled person. Rearranging rooms is unlikely to make your home eligible for lower rates, for example, having a bedroom on the ground floor, rather than the first floor.
How to apply
To apply for Disabled Person's Allowance (DPA), the person who pays rates on the property must send an application form.
You can edit this form. This allows you to save the document to your desktop, complete the form and send as an email attachment to LPS.
You can also ask Land & Property Services (LPS) for a form:
- telephone: 0300 200 7801
- text relay: 18001 0300 200 7801
- email: applicationbased.raterelief@finance-ni.gov.uk
- by writing to LPS
- contact the DPA team online
Disabled Person's Allowance
Lanyon Plaza
7 Lanyon Place
Town Parks
Belfast
BT1 3LP
Information for the application form
When applying for DPA, you need to include information about:
- the person's disability along with any supporting medical evidence
- adaptions made to your home to accommodate the disabled person's needs
LPS will also ask the person with a disability for permission to contact their GP or health professional if necessary.
Home visit
More information to support your application may be needed. A member of the Disabled Person's Allowance team may visit your property or ask you to provide evidence of how it has been adapted.
If you would like an interpreter to be present during a visit, you can ask for this when you apply.
It may take some time for your home visit to take place and it is important to continue to pay your rates while you are waiting. If your claim is successful, it won't be affected by the delay.
Paying your rates
If you apply for help, you must still pay your rates bill while LPS assesses your application. If your application is successful, LPS will refund the amount you have overpaid or credit the amount due to your account.
If you want more information about help to pay your rates, contact LPS:
Benefits calculator
You can use the online calculator to check other benefits or allowances you could receive.