Challenge your business rates valuation

Your business rates bill is your property's rateable value multiplied by a multiplier, so a wrong rateable value means a wrong bill. The Valuation Office sets rateable values in England and Wales. You can ask it to correct your property details and challenge the valuation, and you can appoint an agent to raise check, challenge and appeal cases for you. You keep paying your bill while any case is open, and your rateable value can go up, down or stay the same.

Check your property details

Start by finding your rateable value and comparing it with similar properties nearby, looking at location, age, size and use. Then set up a business rates valuation account and add your property to it.

Raise a check case if the facts the Valuation Office holds are wrong, for example the floor area, number of rooms, address, use, or because the property has been split, merged, demolished or renovated. You must raise a check case before you can challenge, even if the details are correct. Upload evidence such as photographs, floor plans and rent agreements. You can also raise one if a court decision on another property affects yours, or if something outside your control, such as long-term roadworks, has changed the area around it.

The Valuation Office updates the details and writes to you when the check case is complete.

Challenge the valuation

If you still think the rateable value is wrong, challenge it from your account. You need a valid ground.

Include the reason, your evidence, a statement explaining it, the rateable value you propose and the date it should start from. If the property is let, give the rent details, including any rent-free periods, even if you are the landlord. Send all your evidence together, because you can add more later only in exceptional cases. Knowingly giving false information can lead to a penalty.

The Valuation Office will change the valuation if it agrees, send you an agreement form if it partly agrees, or issue a decision setting out its view.

How revaluation affects your challenge

You can usually challenge only your current valuation. Challenges to the previous valuation are limited to cases such as a legal decision on another property, or a change the Valuation Office made to the earlier list.

A new revaluation is the moment values change for every property, so a rise in your bill does not by itself show your valuation is wrong. Compare your property with similar ones first.