Rates on empty homes and second homes

Empty homes pay the same

Rates are due on every domestic property, occupied or not. The owner pays the rates on an empty home. For rates, a home counts as empty only if nobody lives there, it is unfurnished, and it isn't used for storage. A furnished home, or one used for storage, counts as occupied even if nobody lives in it.

The 4% early payment discount applies to rates on empty homes too. Tell LPS when an empty home is sold or someone moves in.

Automatic exclusions

These empty homes don't get a bill. LPS sends a zero balance statement instead.

• the capital value is under £20,000
• a newly built home that has never been occupied, while it is owned by its first developer or builder, for up to 12 months

The developer exclusion lasts 12 months from when the home first appeared on the valuation list, if that was on or after 1 April 2012. Someone who builds their own home counts as a developer. If you buy a new home from a developer, or buy an unfinished house, you don't get it. See new build homes.

Exclusions you can apply for

An excluded empty home gets 100% relief. The categories are:

• all legal owners are in permanent care (nursing home, residential care or hospital)
• all legal owners are in detention and their last address was in Northern Ireland
• occupation isn't allowed by law, or isn't allowed because of a public authority's actions
• the home is a listed building, under a preservation notice, or a historic monument
• the home is the responsibility of the personal representative of someone who has died
• bankruptcy, a trustee under a deed of arrangement, a company in administration, or a liquidator
• Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, or Special Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings
• flooding after heavy rain or a tidal surge

Apply on the Exclusion from Rating of Empty Homes form with evidence. LPS may inspect, and reviews exclusions every six or twelve months. Keep paying while you wait.

Flooded homes

You can apply if you qualified for council compensation because your home flooded after heavy rain or a tidal surge, nobody has lived there continuously for at least four weeks, and it was your main home before the flood. The exclusion lasts up to six months and ends if you move back in or sell.

Renovating or rebuilding

Refurbishing an existing home doesn't get an exclusion, and rates are due throughout the work. If the home is demolished or has major structural work, ask LPS to review the valuation. See how to ask for a review.

Second homes

A second home is a domestic property, so it pays full rates on its capital value, in the council where it is. If it's furnished, it counts as occupied even when nobody is staying there. The official guidance lists no discount or surcharge for second homes.

Lone Pensioner Allowance applies only to your only or main home, so it can't be used on a second home.

Rented homes

For a rented home valued at £150,000 or less, or a house in multiple occupation, the landlord pays the rates. Above £150,000 the tenant pays, unless the landlord has agreed with LPS to pay. Rates are due on empty rented homes too.