What is Rateable Value?

Full Definition

Rateable Value is an estimate, set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in England and Wales (or the Scottish Assessors Association / Land and Property Services in Scotland/Northern Ireland), of the annual rent a non-domestic property such as a shop, office, warehouse or pub could reasonably achieve on the open market at a fixed valuation date, and it forms the basis for calculating Business Rates. A property's annual business rates bill is calculated by multiplying its rateable value by the government's "multiplier" (a pence-in-the-pound figure set annually, with a lower multiplier for smaller properties), before applying any reliefs such as Small Business Rate Relief, Transitional Relief, or Empty Property Relief the business may qualify for. Rateable values are reassessed periodically at general revaluations (most recently effective from 1 April 2023, based on rental values at a valuation date roughly two years earlier), which can cause bills to rise or fall sharply between revaluations even where no relief changes, particularly for sectors or areas where commercial rents have moved a lot since the last valuation. Businesses that believe their rateable value is wrong -- for example, because of an error in the property's details or a material change in physical circumstances nearby -- can challenge it through the VOA's "Check, Challenge, Appeal" process, and should check the current rateable value for a specific property via the VOA's free online rating list search.

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