Stop Guessing. Start Knowing.

Free HAP & Housing Benefit Calculator for All 31 Irish Local Authorities

The trusted app for checking your eligibility for Irish housing benefits

✓ HAP Calculator

✓ Social Housing Check

✓ Working Family Payment

✓ Medical Card & GP Visit Card

✓ Rent Tax Credit

✓ HAP Application Guide

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📱 iOS & Android • 100% Free • No Data Collection

New in version 1.3.0: a Rent Tax Credit check, and the official sources behind every result.

Why BenefitCheck Ireland?

Instant Clarity

See where you likely stand in seconds, not days

100% Private

All calculations happen on your device. Zero data collection.

Official Data

Official figures for all 31 local authorities, with the sources behind each result

How It Works

Enter Your Details

Income, household size, and county

Get Instant Results

See your likely eligibility, with the official sources behind each result

Plan Confidently

Make informed decisions about your housing future

See It in Action

Screens from version 1.3.0 on iPhone

Housing, healthcare and tax credits

Housing result

Rent Tax Credit estimate

What Housing Benefits Can You Check?

Navigating Ireland's housing support system can be confusing. Income limits vary by county, household size affects your threshold, and the rules change regularly. BenefitCheck Ireland checks your likely eligibility for the three main housing and income supports below, and also covers the Medical Card and the GP Visit Card and, in version 1.3.0, the Rent Tax Credit.

Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)

HAP is Ireland's main support for people renting privately. To get it, you must be on your local authority's housing list. Your local authority pays your landlord directly, up to a rent limit for your household size and area, and you pay a weekly rent contribution to the local authority based on your income. If your rent is above the limit, you pay the difference to your landlord yourself (source: Citizens Information).

The rent limits for all 31 local authorities are set nationally in S.I. 56/2017. Where it is needed to find a suitable home, a local authority can go up to 35% above the limit under S.I. 342/2022, and this applies in every local authority, including the four Dublin councils. A separate Homeless HAP scheme in the Dublin region can go up to 50% above the limit, but only for households formally accepted as homeless.

BenefitCheck Ireland shows the most HAP could pay each month for your household and area, and how much of your rent would sit above that. In version 1.3.0, the 35% discretion stays off unless you switch it on, because whether it applies is your local authority's decision, and the result makes clear that your rent contribution to the local authority comes on top: the app does not work it out.

Social Housing Eligibility

To qualify for social housing support, your household's net income must be under the limit for your local authority's band. For a single person, Band 1 is up to €40,000, Band 2 up to €35,000 and Band 3 up to €30,000. The limit rises by 5% for each additional adult, up to 10%, and by 2.5% for each child (source: Citizens Information). BenefitCheck Ireland checks your income against the limit for your household and area, and shows how close you are to it.

Working Family Payment (WFP)

Working Family Payment is a weekly tax-free payment for employees with children. You must work at least 38 hours a fortnight, and you can combine your hours with those of your spouse, civil partner or cohabitant. It pays 60% of the difference between your average weekly family income and the income limit for your family size (sources: gov.ie, Citizens Information). Where your household may qualify, BenefitCheck Ireland shows an estimated weekly Working Family Payment alongside your housing result.

Rent Tax Credit

New in version 1.3.0. The Rent Tax Credit is 20% of the rent you paid in a year, up to €1,000, or €2,000 for a jointly assessed couple, for the 2024 to 2028 tax years. It cannot be more than the income tax you pay for that year (source: Revenue). You cannot claim it if you get HAP, Rent Supplement or the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), even if you pay a top-up to your landlord, or if you rent a cost rental home. You also cannot claim if your landlord is a local authority, a housing association or approved housing body, or your parent or child (sources: Revenue, Citizens Information, section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997).

BenefitCheck Ireland first works through the conditions that would rule a claim out, then estimates the credit against your income tax for the year. It covers 2026 and the four years before it, in line with Revenue's four-year rule, under which claims for 2022 must be made by 31 December 2026 (source: Revenue). The result names the Revenue sources behind the figure. It is an estimate only: Revenue decides every claim.

We Show Our Work

New in version 1.3.0: every result in the app lists the regulations and official pages behind it, and the list changes with the result you are looking at. The Working Family Payment figure names the Social Welfare Act sections behind it. The Rent Tax Credit estimate names its Revenue sources. The HAP payments stage of the Apply guide names the legislation behind the rent contribution, alongside Citizens Information.

The Help tab lists the organisations the app's information comes from: gov.ie, the HSE, the Department of Health, Citizens Information, Revenue, the Irish Statute Book, the Oireachtas, the Residential Tenancies Board and the State Examinations Commission. BenefitCheck Ireland is not affiliated with any of them.

How We Verify Our Data

Accuracy matters when it comes to financial decisions. HAP rent limits are set nationally by statutory instrument (S.I. 56/2017), and we present them directly from that source, with each local authority's HAP page linked as the authoritative reference. Income bands and Working Family Payment thresholds come from gov.ie and Citizens Information, and Rent Tax Credit figures from Revenue. In version 1.3.0, the data bundled in the app was last verified on 26 August 2026. The app includes a built-in data staleness warning: if the bundled rates are more than 180 days old, you'll see a clear banner advising you to verify current rates with your local authority directly.

Guided HAP Application Journey

Beyond checking eligibility, BenefitCheck Ireland's Apply tab walks you through the HAP application in seven stages, from checking you are on your local authority's housing list to your first HAP payment. You apply once you have found a suitable home (or, if you already rent privately and qualify to transfer to HAP, for your current home), either online through the Online HAP Portal or with a form from your local authority (source: Citizens Information). Each stage uses plain English, has checklists that save your progress on your phone, and links to the official forms and pages you need.

Medical Card and GP Visit Card

BenefitCheck Ireland also checks whether you are likely to qualify for a Medical Card or a GP Visit Card. The Medical Card means test looks at your net weekly income (after Income Tax, PRSI and USC), with allowances for dependants and deductions for costs like rent, childcare and travel to work. The GP Visit Card has higher income limits, so many households over the Medical Card limit still qualify for free GP visits. See the full 2026 income limits, allowances and how to apply on our Medical Card and GP Visit Card guide.

Popular County HAP Rates

Jump straight to the 2026 HAP rate limits, discretionary uplift, and eligibility for Ireland's largest county markets: