Borough BookAlphaBelfast, 2026/27
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Independent. Not run by or affiliated with Belfast City Council.

Where your rates go in Belfast

On a home of £123,000 capital value, the average capital value of a home in Northern Ireland, the rates are £1,236.27 this year, up 4.8%. The council keeps 45% of every bill; the rest goes to the Northern Ireland Executive. Rates pay for 97% of what the council spends from rates and grants.

Bill on an average home£1,236up 4.8% on last year
Council budget£228mfrom rates and grants, after fees
The council keeps45%of every rates bill
Council controlNo overall controlno party has more than half the seats

Your rates bill

Homes in Northern Ireland pay rates, not council tax, and there are no bands: the bill is your home’s capital value times two rates. Belfast City Council sets the district rate and keeps it; the Northern Ireland Executive sets the regional rate, for its own services, such as schools, hospitals and roads.

Starts on £123,000, the average capital value of a home in Northern Ireland. Your rate bill gives your home’s value; so does Land & Property Services’ property search. It is what the home would have sold for in 2005, not today.

2026/27
£1,236.27
£123.63 a month over 10 months
Belfast City Council: district rate£552.52Northern Ireland Executive: regional rate£683.76District rate 0.4492p and regional rate 0.5559p in the pound of capital value.
approxDistrict and regional rates for 2026/27modelledYour bill: our arithmetic on those rates

Your £552.52 to the council pays for

Bins, streets, parks, leisure and communities£270
Running the council, and city funds£145
Paying for past building projects£63
Jobs, tourism, culture and regeneration£58
Growth fund£10
Planning£7
Show your bill as a table
Rates on a capital value of £123,000, 2026/27
Your billShare
Bins, streets, parks, leisure and communities£269.7421.8%
Running the council, and city funds£144.8211.7%
Paying for past building projects£62.525.1%
Jobs, tourism, culture and regeneration£58.124.7%
Growth fund£10.120.8%
Planning£7.190.6%
Belfast City Council, district rate£552.5244.7%
Northern Ireland Executive, regional rate£683.7655.3%
Your bill£1,236.27100%

Split in proportion to what the council spends from rates and government grants, £228m, after its own fees, charges and other grants. The council does not run schools, care, roads, housing or libraries: in Northern Ireland the Executive does, and the regional rate helps pay for them.

Help with rates is by application: Lone Pensioner Allowance, Disabled Persons Allowance for an adapted home, and rate relief or a rate rebate on a low income.

The council’s budget

What the council spends on day-to-day services after fees and charges, and where the money comes from; grants tied to a particular service are already taken off it. It must balance by law.

FundingReserves (one-off)Services
District rates (homes and businesses) to Net budgetDe-rating grant to Net budgetNet budget to Bins, streets, parks, leisure and communitiesNet budget to Running the council, and city fundsNet budget to Paying for past building projectsNet budget to Jobs, tourism, culture and regenerationNet budget to Growth fundNet budget to PlanningApproximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedDistrict rates (homes and businesses)£220.4m, 97%Approximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedDe-rating grant£7.4mApproximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedBins, streets, parks, leisure and communities£111.2m, 49%Approximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedRunning the council, and city funds£59.7m, 26%Approximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedPaying for past building projects£25.8m, 11%Approximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedJobs, tourism, culture and regeneration£24.0m, 11%Approximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedGrowth fund£4.2mApproximate: from a secondary source or an assumption still to be checkedPlanning£3.0m£228m
Show the budget as a table
Where the money comes from, 2026/27
£mShare of the net budget
District rates (homes and businesses)£220.4m96.8%
De-rating grant£7.4m3.2%
Net budget£227.8m100%
What it pays for, 2026/27
£mShare of the net budget
Bins, streets, parks, leisure and communities£111.2m48.8%
Running the council, and city funds£59.7m26.2%
Paying for past building projects£25.8m11.3%
Jobs, tourism, culture and regeneration£24.0m10.5%
Growth fund£4.2m1.8%
Planning£3.0m1.3%
Net budget£227.8m100%

Where the money comes from

District rates (homes and businesses)£220.4m
De-rating grant£7.4m
Net budget£227.8m

What it pays for

Bins, streets, parks, leisure and communities£111.2m
Running the council, and city funds£59.7m
Paying for past building projects£25.8m
Jobs, tourism, culture and regeneration£24.0m
Growth fund£4.2m
Planning£3.0m
approxAll lines

This is what Belfast City Council needs from rates and government grants once its own fees, charges and other grants are counted, as it told the Department for Communities, by the committee that oversees each part; the council’s report with the detail was not made public. It used none of its reserves this year. The district rates line includes what businesses pay: the statistics do not split homes from businesses.

Rates over the years

The district rate went from 0.3562p in the pound in 2022/23 to 0.4492p in 2026/27, up 26%; the regional rate from 0.4574p to 0.5559p, up 22%.

Domestic rates in Belfast each year
YearDistrict rateRegional rateBill on £123,000Council budget
2022/230.3562p0.4574p£1,000.73£178.9m
2023/240.3847p0.4848p£1,069.48£193.6m
2024/250.4056p0.5042p£1,119.05£206.1m
2025/260.4299p0.5294p£1,179.94£220.1m
2026/270.4492p0.5559p£1,236.27£227.8m

Rates are in pence for each pound of capital value. The bill on £123,000 is our arithmetic for every year on the same value, as homes have not been revalued since 2005. The council budget is the amount to be raised from rates and grants each year.

Councillors

Sinn Féin 22, DUP 14, Alliance 10, SDLP 4, Green 3, Independent 3, UUP 2, People Before Profit 1 and TUV 1 of the 60 councillors on the council’s list. No party has more than half the seats. Belfast’s councillors were elected in May 2023 by single transferable vote, five to seven for each district electoral area, where voters number the candidates in order of choice; the next election is in May 2027. How each area voted is not shown yet: Democracy Club has the winners but not the counts. The list is the council’s own, so it includes everyone who has taken a seat since: in Northern Ireland, when a councillor leaves, their party names who takes the seat, without a by-election.

Balmoral

Black Mountain

Botanic

Castle

Collin

Court

Lisnasharragh

Oldpark

Ormiston

Titanic

Still to come for Belfast

For Hammersmith & Fulham, Borough Book also tracks every party’s manifesto pledges, every council payment over £500, council decisions, how this year’s budget gap was closed and a tool to balance next year. Those need the council’s own papers, read by hand, and come here next. See Hammersmith & Fulham.

approxRates and budget: the Department of Finance's poundages, the Department for Communities' rate statistics and the council's minutes, read by hand and checked against each other (17 Apr 2026)
Where every figure on this page comes from