Every housing scheme in Ireland has its own form and its own rules, so most people never find out which ones they could get. Answer about ten questions once, and see all nine: social housing, HAP, cost rental, Starter Homes, the First Home Scheme, Help to Buy, the Local Authority Home Loan, Tenant Purchase and the Rent Tax Credit. Then get your documents ready once for all of them. Nothing that identifies you is kept.
Your household
About two minutes. Rough figures are fine.
A guide to the published rules, not a decision. The council or scheme decides. Saved on this phone only.
The rules we use
Each rule as the scheme publishes it, read on 29 October 2026. When a rule changes, this page changes with it.
Social housing support
Your household's net income must be within your council's limit:
- €40,000 for one person: Cork City, Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Galway City, Kildare, Meath, South Dublin, Wicklow
- €35,000 for one person: Carlow, Clare, Cork County, Galway County, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford
- €30,000 for one person: Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary
Add 5% for each extra adult, up to 10%, and 2.5% for each child. You also need a long-term right to live in Ireland and no suitable alternative home.
Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)
For people the council has accepted for social housing. HAP pays most of the rent on a private home straight to the landlord.
Cost rental
Net household income below €66,000 a year in Dublin and €59,000 everywhere else. You can't be getting HAP or other social housing support. The rent cannot be more than 35% of your net household income.
Starter Home Purchase Scheme
For first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. Your purchasing power is 4 times your gross income, and it must be less than 85.5% of the home's open market value. You need a 10% deposit, and savings over the deposit plus €30,000 count toward your purchasing power.
First Home Scheme
Up to 30% of a new home's price (20% with Help to Buy), for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. The home must be under your area's price limit, from €375,000 to €500,000.
Help to Buy
For first-time buyers of a new home worth €500,000 or less, with a mortgage of at least 70%. The refund is the lowest of €35,000, 10% of the price, or the income tax and DIRT you paid in the last 4 years.
Local Authority Home Loan
For first-time buyers and fresh start applicants refused by two lenders. Gross income up to €80,000 for one person or €85,000 for a joint loan, with two years' continuous employment.
Tenant Purchase Scheme
For council tenants with at least 10 years of social housing support and an income of at least €11,000 a year. The discount is 60%, 50% or 40%, depending on income.
Rent Tax Credit
Up to €1,000 per person who pays rent on a private home (€1,150 from January 2027). Not for council housing, HAP-supported rent, or rent-a-room with a close family member.
For housing bodies and councils
Opening a cost rental, Starter Home or affordable scheme? Send applicants here first. A link can open the check on your scheme, so people see whether they meet your published rules, and have their documents ready, before they apply.
You get fewer applications that can't succeed, and more that arrive complete. We see only anonymous totals: how many checked, and how many met the rules. Email zak@peoplespocket.com.