HAP in 2026: limits, discretion and the top-up

The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is rent paid to your landlord by the local authority. You find the home yourself, the council pays the landlord each month up to a limit, and you pay the council a rent worked out from your income. Where the rent is above what the council pays, you pay the difference to the landlord yourself. That difference is the top-up.

The limits are the monthly figures in the Housing Assistance Payment (Amendment) Regulations 2017, S.I. 56/2017, and they have not changed since 3 July 2017. A review has been under way since 2025, and no new limits had been published by 27 October 2026. Every council may go up to 35% above its limit at its discretion, and the Homeless HAP scheme in Dublin may go to 50%.

The HAP calculator gives the limit for your council and household, applies the discretion, and shows the top-up for the rent you have been asked. The full table for every local authority is on the county pages.

Who can get HAP

HAP is for households the local authority has approved for social housing support. You apply to the council for social housing support first, and the same assessment opens HAP to you. The council checks your income against its limits, your right to reside, and whether you have a local connection. Social housing support and the HAP rule walks through that application.

Once approved, you look for a home in the private market, in the same way as any other renter. The landlord completes the HAP forms with you, and the council begins paying when the tenancy starts. HAP is run by each local authority and paid through a shared service centre in Limerick.

There is no limit on the hours you can work on HAP. The payment moves with you if you move home, as long as the council approves the new tenancy.

The limits and the discretion

The limit depends on the local authority and on the make-up of your household. The S.I. gives six household types, from a single adult in shared accommodation to a couple or one parent with three or more children. The figures below are Dublin City Council's limits from the S.I.; the council's own page carries the current table.

The discretion belongs to the council, not to you. The council can apply it where it is satisfied that a home within the basic limit cannot be found, which in most of the country is now the usual position. Ask for it in writing when you apply, with the adverts or listings that show what rents are being asked. The council decides the percentage, up to the ceiling, and can review it.

The Homeless HAP scheme in the four Dublin councils applies to households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It carries the 50% discretion, and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive's Place Finder service can help with a deposit and the first month's rent. The county page for Dublin gives the contacts.

What you pay the council: the differential rent

You pay the council a differential rent, which is the same kind of rent a council tenant pays. It is a share of your household income, set under the council's own differential rent scheme, and it changes when your income changes. Tell the council of any change in your income or household within the time its scheme sets.

The differential rent is paid to the council, usually weekly through the Household Budget scheme at An Post or by standing order. It is not paid to the landlord. The landlord receives the HAP payment from the council on a set day each month.

Keep this payment up before anything else. If you fall behind with the council, the council may suspend the payment to the landlord. Once that happens, you are in arrears with the landlord under the Residential Tenancies Act, and the landlord may serve a warning notice. Rent arrears: where to get help explains the 28 days that follow and the free routes.

What you pay the landlord: the top-up

Where the rent is above what the council will pay, you pay the rest to the landlord directly. Take a couple with one child in Dublin City asked for €1,900 a month. With the 35% discretion the council pays up to €1,687.50, so the top-up is €212.50 a month on top of the differential rent to the council. The calculator does this sum for your own figures.

The top-up is an agreement between you and the landlord. The council does not pay it, does not assess it, and does not take it into account in the differential rent. A top-up that is too large for your income is the most common way a HAP tenancy fails. Before you sign, add the differential rent and the top-up together and compare them with what you can pay each month.

A landlord may not ask for a top-up that is hidden from the council, or for a deposit above one month's rent. The deposit cap and the advance-rent cap apply to a HAP tenancy as to any other. The deposits guide in chapter 1 sets out the caps.

What the landlord must do

The landlord must have tax clearance, must register the tenancy with the RTB, and must accept the HAP payment from the council. The council must inspect the home within 8 months of the first payment against the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Where the home fails, the landlord is given time to fix it, and the payment can stop if it is not fixed.

A landlord or agent may not refuse you, or treat you less favourably, because you receive HAP or intend to apply for it. That is the housing assistance ground in the Equal Status Acts, in force since 1 January 2016. An advert that says no HAP is itself unlawful. The remedy is a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, and the social housing guide above explains the steps and the time limits.

HAP and the Residential Tenancies Act

Your tenancy is a private tenancy under the Act. The HAP payment itself is not, which means a dispute about the payment goes to the council and not to the RTB. Everything else is the same as for any renter: the rent cap, the notice periods, the minimum standards, the deposit rules and the RTB's dispute process.

A rent review in a HAP tenancy must keep to the cap of 2% or the CPI figure, whichever is lower, with 90 days' notice. A lawful rise can still push the rent above the council's limit, and the extra would fall to you as a larger top-up. Tell the council about any rent review and ask it to look again at the discretion. The rent increase checker works out the most the rent can rise.

The rent tax credit is not available for rent paid under HAP. The rent tax credit guide lists the other conditions.

Where this leaves you

HAP is the council paying your landlord up to a limit from 2017, with up to 35% more at the council's discretion, or 50% under Homeless HAP in Dublin. You pay the council a differential rent from your income and the landlord any top-up above what the council pays. The tenancy has every right the Act gives any renter, and a landlord may not refuse you for being on HAP. Run the HAP calculator with the rent you have been asked, and add the differential rent and the top-up before you commit. If money is already tight, ring MABS on 0818 07 2000 before you sign anything.