Short answer: Local Property Tax for 2026 to 2030 is based on the value the owner declared on 1 November 2025, in 19 bands. Band 1 (up to €240,000) costs €95 a year at the basic rate, band 3 (€315,001 to €420,000) €333, band 7 (up to €840,000) €713; above €2.1 million the tax is a percentage of the exact value. Each council can raise the basic rate by up to 25% or cut it by up to 15%. A buyer inherits the seller’s band until 2030, and the owner on 1 November pays for the following year.
Local Property Tax is small money next to a mortgage, but it follows the house and it is one of the few costs you can pin down exactly before you buy.
The bands
Owners revalued their homes on 1 November 2025 and the new bands apply from 2026 to 2030. Band 1 runs to €240,000 at a basic charge of €95; the bands then widen in steps to €2.1 million, above which the tax is a percentage of the value. Each council can raise the basic rate by up to 25% or cut it by up to 15%, so the same band costs different money in Leitrim and Dublin City.
What you inherit
The valuation is fixed for the period, so if the seller declared band 2 in November 2025 and you pay a band 3 price in 2027, you keep paying band 2 until 2030. That is legal and normal. What is not normal is an undervaluation so far below the price that Revenue queries it on the sale; solicitors check the LPT history before closing and any arrears must be cleared by the seller.
Checking
Revenue publishes the bands and every council’s adjustment factor. Take the likely price, find the band, apply the local factor. The report does this for the Eircode from the last registered sale and the current local factor, alongside the sale history and the rents around it, so the carrying cost is on one page with everything else.
The 2026 to 2030 bands, basic rate
| Band | Value declared at 1 November 2025 | Basic charge a year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | up to €240,000 | €95 |
| 2 | €240,001 to €315,000 | €235 |
| 3 | €315,001 to €420,000 | €333 |
| 4 | €420,001 to €525,000 | €428 |
| 5 | €525,001 to €630,000 | €523 |
| 6 | €630,001 to €735,000 | €618 |
| 7 | €735,001 to €840,000 | €713 |
| 8 | €840,001 to €945,000 | €808 |
| 9 | €945,001 to €1,050,000 | €903 |
| 10 | €1,050,001 to €1,155,000 | €998 |
| 11 to 19 | €1,155,001 to €2,100,000 | €1,094 to €3,110 |
| above | over €2,100,000 | 0.0906% to €1.26m, 0.25% to €2.1m, 0.3% above |
The council adjustment for 2027
Councils vote each year, by the end of September, on a Local Adjustment Factor for the following year: since 2026 the law allows up to plus 25% or minus 15% (before that, 15% either way). For 2027 3 councils went to the new maximum of plus 25%: Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo. Laois is at plus 20%, 17 councils at plus 15% (including Cork City, up from 12%), Kerry, Kildare and Mayo plus 10%, Wicklow plus 6%, Dublin City, Louth and Meath at 0, Fingal minus 5%, South Dublin minus 7.5% and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown minus 15%. So a band 3 house costs €283 a year in Dún Laoghaire, €383 in Co. Cork and €416 in Leitrim. Whoever owns the house on 1 November 2026 pays the 2027 charge. The factor can change every year; the band cannot until 2030.
Questions people ask
- Who pays LPT in the year I buy?
- Whoever owns the house on 1 November is liable for the whole of the following year. If you close in March, the seller was the owner on the previous 1 November and has already paid or agreed to pay that year; you pay from the next year. Solicitors apportion it in the closing statement and check that no arrears are attached to the property.
- Can I change the band after buying?
- Not for a higher price. The valuation date is fixed at 1 November 2025 for everyone until the next revaluation in 2030. Revenue can query a declared value that is far below what the house just sold for, so a seller who declared band 1 on a house that fetches €450,000 may be asked to explain.
- Is any house exempt?
- A few classes: homes with certified pyrite or defective-block damage under the remediation schemes, homes left empty because the owner is in long-term care, and some owned by charities or bodies for special needs. Revenue lists them; the seller’s solicitor should tell you if one applies.