What are business rates?
Business Rates (also known as non-domestic rates) are a tax levied by the government on all commercial premises. These are calculated via the Rateable Value of a property, set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and collected by your local authority.
All commercial property owners and tenants have to pay business rates, though some can be eligible for exemption or reliefs to elevitate the pressures it can place on liabilities.
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What’s the catch?
There are 2.13 million commercial properties within England and Wales as of 31st March 2025, and during the 2024/25 financial year alone over £26 billion in Business Rates was collected.
The Rateable Value for these properties is based on little more than desktop valuations by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for each rating list, creating an autocratic system which relies heavily on the apathy of commercial property owners and tenants.
- RVA have found that almost 50% of properties reviewed could be paying too much in their business rates.
- Historically as much as £1.5 billion has been ring-fenced each year to account for business rates rebates, with the 2026 rating list seeing up to £1.8 billion in rebates.
- The Valuation Office & local authorities will not approach you to check or reduce your liabilities; they expect you to challenge them.
The 2026 Revaluation is here…
Are your business rates correct?
Review your business rates with RVA Surveyors, and begin the 2026 rating list knowing you have the correct business rates liabilities. Speak with one of our savings specialists to get started.
Can I challenge my business rates?
Due to the complexity of the process to review business rates the majority of business owners and tenants appoint an agent to ensure savings in business rates liabilities. Over 50,000 properties have been signed to date with RVA; bolstered by our 85% success rate and risk-free policy.
At our Manchester based office, RVA have signed over 50,000 commercial properties, and saved businesses over £400m to date on their business rates liabilities.
Did you know?
Under the Check Challenge Appeal and Audit process, over 85% of properties where RVA have lodged a Check achieve a reduction in the business rates liability.
Almost 50% of all RVA’s reductions are achieved in as little as four weeks.
It is estimated that £27.8 billion will have been collected by local authorities during the 2025/26 financial year.
RHL (Retail, Leisure, Hospitality) Relief was discontinued as of 31st March 2026, replaced with lower multipliers for RHL properties with a Rateable Value (RV) below £500,000. This is to be funded by a new multiplier for any properties with an RV of £500,000 or above.
Business Rates Timeline
Although ‘rating’ can be tracked as far back as the doomsday book, business rates as we now know them came to fruition in April 1990. Rating Lists were scheduled to be re-evaluated every five years to represent the current commercial property market values throughout England & Wales.
In 2014, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) announced an extension of the 2010 rating list by a further two years. This was a first and represented the government’s reaction to falling property values. In addition to this the government changed the ruling surrounding the effective dates of reduction. Any appeal lodged after the 1st April 2015 could not receive a rebate, affecting thousands of businesses around the UK.
In 2017, the largest change to rates since 1990 brought forward a more refined digital rating system called Check Challenge Appeal. This is now powered by the VOA, where all case work is lodged and managed. Whilst this system holds the VOA to account, it is hard to use, creates admin roadblocks and has a poor user experience when uploading personal information.
This revaluation brought large increases in Rateable Value along with the highest multipliers of any previous rating list and used the convoluted gateway system. At the end of the rating list which ended 31st March 2026, it is estimated that the VOA and local authorities will have collected over £79 billion in business rates, with the 2025-26 financial year bringing in £27.8 billion alone.
In the 2026 revaluation alone, we will see increases in the average Rateable Value for all property types across England and Wales, the introduction of the multi-tiered multiplier, along with the removal of Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Relief making the 2026 revaluation the largest burden on commercial property owners and tenants to date.
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RVA Surveyors – The hassle free way to reduce your business rates liability.
Or simply call us on 0330 055 3234 and a member of the team will be happy to help.
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Monday 08:45 – 17:30
Tuesday 08:45 – 17:30
Wednesday 08:45 – 17:30
Thursday 08:45 – 17:30
Friday 08:45 – 15:55
