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Letter to Land & Property Services about your rates bill (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland · in English
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Made for use in Northern Ireland
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For a ratepayer in Northern Ireland writing to Land & Property Services, which bills and collects domestic rates: to ask for Lone Pensioner Allowance (20% off for people aged 70 or over who live alone) or Disabled Person’s Allowance (25% off for an adapted home), to say your landlord is liable for a rented home valued at £150,000 or less, to dispute a wrong bill, or to ask for a refund. LPS has free application forms and online services; this letter suits a case they do not fit. To challenge the capital value itself, use the review statement instead.
- Made for use in Northern Ireland
- Last updated October 29, 2026
- Document in English
Where a UK document reproduces the words of legislation or of a government publication — UK, Scottish or Northern Irish — it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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When to use this document
- You are a pensioner living alone in Northern Ireland and want the lone pensioner allowance on your rates.
- Your home has been adapted for a disabled family member and you want money off the rates.
- You rent your home and LPS has started sending you the rates bill instead of your landlord.
- Your rates bill looks wrong or your account is in credit and you want LPS to sort it out.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Sender
- Sender's address
- Town or city
- Sender's postcode
- Date
- Land & Property Services address (from your rate bill)
- Rate account number or property reference (optional)
- Address of the property
- What you are writing about
- Details and dates (optional)
- Attachments
Common questions
- How do I get Lone Pensioner Allowance or Disabled Person’s Allowance on my rates?
- Apply to Land & Property Services: its forms are free on nidirect, and a letter like this one also works. Lone Pensioner Allowance takes 20% off for a ratepayer aged 70 or over who lives alone; Disabled Person’s Allowance takes 25% off where the home has been adapted for a disabled person who lives there. Neither is given automatically, and you must tell LPS if your circumstances change.
- Who pays the rates on a rented home in Northern Ireland?
- For a home with a capital value of £150,000 or less, the landlord is liable for the rates and usually recovers them through the rent; above that the tenant is liable, unless the landlord agrees to pay. If LPS bills you for a home your landlord is liable for, write to LPS with your tenancy details and ask it to correct the account, and check your tenancy agreement for what the rent includes.
- What can I do if Land & Property Services does not sort out my rates problem?
- Use LPS’s own complaints procedure, which nidirect explains; it is free. If you are still not satisfied at its end, the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman can look at how LPS handled it, normally within six months of the final answer. Keep paying what you can meanwhile, so that recovery action does not start, and ask Advice NI or Citizens Advice Northern Ireland for free help with the bill.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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