Local Property Tax and Vacant Homes Tax for Irish holiday homes

Updated 30 September 2026. An Irish holiday home carries two recurring property taxes that have nothing to do with the income it earns: Local Property Tax, which every residential owner pays, and Vacant Homes Tax, which targets homes that are barely used. The second has become considerably heavier, and its current chargeable period ends on 31 October 2026.

Local Property Tax: every residential property

Local Property Tax (LPT) is a self-assessed annual tax on the market value of residential property in the State. Whoever owns the property on the liability date, 1 November, is liable for the following year, and that includes rental properties and second or holiday homes. Where there are several owners, Revenue can collect from any of them.

The value is your own assessment as at the valuation date. For the years 2026 to 2030 that date is 1 November 2025, so a property's band for this whole period was set then. If you bought after that date, the seller's declaration may not reflect your view of the value; ask your solicitor what was filed.

Vacant Homes Tax: the use test

Vacant Homes Tax (VHT) applies to residential property capable of being lived in but in use as a dwelling for fewer than 30 days in a twelve-month chargeable period. The periods run from 1 November to 31 October: the current one is 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026. Returns are due by 7 November 2026, and late returns attract penalties. VHT is payable in addition to LPT, not instead of it.

What the two taxes actually cost

The figures below were read on Revenue's own pages on 30 September 2026. LPT is charged by valuation band: for the 2026 to 2030 period there are nineteen bands for properties valued up to €2.1 million. The bands a holiday home is most likely to fall into carry these basic charges: band 1, value up to €240,000, charges €95; band 2, €240,001 to €315,000, charges €235; band 3, €315,001 to €420,000, charges €333; band 4, €420,001 to €525,000, charges €428. Above €2.1 million the charge is not banded: 0.0906% of the first €1.26 million, 0.25% up to €2.1 million, 0.3% above.

VHT is seven times the property's base rate of LPT for the current period. On band 3 that is €2,331, which is Revenue's own worked example. A band 1 cottage faces €665 of VHT, a band 2 property €1,645, a band 4 property €2,996. The multiple has climbed from three times the base rate in the first chargeable period to five, then seven.

The local adjustment factor, and the trap inside it

Each local authority may raise or lower the basic LPT rate by up to 15%, and for 2026 that discretion runs almost exactly against the holiday-home map. Clare, Donegal, Galway County, Wexford, Sligo, Leitrim, Cork County, Kilkenny and Waterford are all at +15%, Kerry and Mayo at +10%, Wicklow at +6%. The reductions sit in the Dublin commuter belt: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at −15%, South Dublin at −7.5%, Fingal at −5%, with Dublin City, Louth and Meath unchanged.

The detail that is easy to miss is that the local adjustment factor is not relevant to VHT: the vacancy charge is calculated on the base rate, before any local increase or decrease. In a county at +15%, a band 3 owner pays about €382 of LPT and €2,331 of VHT, so the vacancy charge is about 6.1 times the LPT actually paid. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, at −15%, the same owner pays about €283 and the same €2,331, a multiple of about 8.2. The headline “seven times” is exact only where the local factor is zero, which in 2026 means Dublin City, Louth and Meath alone.

A band 3 holiday home in a +15% county (the statutory ceiling on the local adjustment factor since 2012), used for a fortnight a year and not exempt, therefore carries roughly €2,713 a year in recurring property tax alone. That is the number worth setting against the cost of finding a use for the property for thirty days.

Where holiday homes and short lets sit

A property actively let or lived in for 30 days or more is outside the tax. The difficult cases are properties used rarely: a family cottage visited for a fortnight in summer, or a unit off the market for renovation.

Revenue and Citizens Information do not spell out how short-stay guest nights count towards the 30 days. Citizens Information mentions an exemption for property let for at least 30 days to a registered tenant, which points to a tenancy rather than hotel-style stays. Until that is confirmed, keep records of every night the property was used, by whom and on what basis.

The exemptions

Revenue lists exemptions for property that is unoccupied in specific circumstances, including where:

• the owner has died, or a grant of representation has been issued;
• the property is actively marketed for sale or rent;
• it is subject to certain court orders;
• it has undergone structural works;
• it is unoccupied because the owner is ill.

Each has conditions and time limits, and claiming one generally means filing a VHT return. A holiday home kept for occasional family use fits none of them.

Why this matters for short-let owners in 2026

The planning reform approved in June 2026 and the register due to open in December will push some owners out of short letting, particularly in towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants. An owner who stops letting and leaves the property empty may move straight into VHT territory. Advertising for rent or sale can bring an exemption, but only if the marketing is genuine and documented.

Other taxes to keep in view

LPT and VHT sit alongside income tax on the letting profit and capital gains tax on sale. Neither is affected by paying LPT, and none of them replaces planning compliance.

An owner's checklist before 7 November

• Confirm the LPT value declared for 1 November 2025 and that LPT is paid.
• Count the days in use as a dwelling between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026.
• If the count is close to 30, take advice on how guest nights are treated.
• If an exemption applies, file the VHT return claiming it on time.
• Decide the use for the next period.

How we can help

We look at how a property can be used well over the whole year, which is also the best protection against a vacancy charge. Tell us about your property; we study every request and answer honestly.