Refund due to people with disabilities now eligible for LPT relief

Fine Gael TD for Cavan Monaghan, Heather Humpreys has, today (Friday), welcomed the extension of Local Property Tax (LPT) relief available to people with disabilities. Deputy Humphreys first raised this issue with the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD last year.

“After the introduction of the LPT, a number of people with disabilities throughout Monaghan and Cavan contacted me as they were ineligible to claim relief. These people had adapted their homes at great expense to make them suitable for their needs. As a result of the changes made, the property moved into the higher LPT band and they were unable to claim relief. The reason they were ineligible was because these people had never received a grant or an award.

“After a number of anomalies and inequities were pointed out to the Minister in relation to reliefs available to people with disabilities, I am delighted to see that he has reviewed the issue and that changes are to be made.

“Not only are vital changes to be made, but they will be backdated to 1^st July, 2013 when the LPT was introduced. This means people affected are eligible to claim a refund.

“Two different categories of relief are available depending on the disability of the home owner. Under the current legislation, only people who had applied for a grant or assistance at some time were eligible to avail of this relief. It soon became clear that there were many people who had, for whatever reason, never availed of a grant but who had adapted their home to facilitate for their disability. It was wrong that these people were excluded so the Minister saw fit to make the necessary changes.

“The first type of relief available means that the owner of a property can reduce its chargeable value for LPT if the property has been adapted and those adaptations have increased the value of the property to the extent that it moves into a higher valuation band . In simple terms, this means that a person with a disability will not be penalised for making their home more suitable for their needs. If adaptations don’t change the value of the home then the relief has no effect.

“The second relief available fully exempts a property from LPT if it has been constructed or acquired purely due to its suitability for a person who is permanently and totally incapacitated, and who is unable to earn an income.

“For now we are still operating under the original legislation but the Minister has informed me that Revenue has been instructed to operate in line with the changes that will be made in due course.

“I am very encouraged by the way this issue has been dealt with and that people with disabilities will be able to benefit from the relief available. When it became clear that certain people should be eligible for relief, positive action was swiftly taken.”