Business Rates Valuation
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which is an agency of the Inland Revenue, updates the rateable values on business properties every five years. This revaluation occurs to make sure that individual rateable values continue to reflect any changes that have occurred in the property market since the last valuation happened. All non-domestic property has a rateable value unless it is exempt from paying business rates.
The VOA collects information on how much different types of property are rented for, and bases the new rateable values on this rental information. About six-months before each revaluation comes into effect, the VOA publishes the intended new rateable values in a Draft Rating List, and this gives time for changes to be made before the 1st April effective date. The VOA also sends to businesses a summary valuation, which explains what factors have been taken into consideration when deciding what each rateable value has been set at. Details of most summary valuations can be seen on the VOA’s website at www.voa.gov.uk.
For the 2005 rating list the independent Government valuers used by the VOA referred to market rental values as at 1st April 2003. All the businesses in Leicester are entered into a rating list, which shows their full address and what the rateable value has been set at. The rating list is available for inspection either at our office, or the VOA’s:
Revenues & Benefits Service | Valuation Office Agency |
Wellington House | Enkalon House |
22 - 32 Wellington Street | 92 Regent Road |
Leicester | Leicester |
LE1 6HL | LE1 7DD |
Phone: 0116 252 7005 | Phone: 0116 280 0200 |
Fax: 0116 254 7322 | Fax: 0116 280 0299 |
E-mail: business.rates@leicester.gov.uk | E-mail: eastmidlandsgroup.vo@gsi.gov.uk |
Website: | Website: |
To confirm the gross amount of rates payable, each business has its rateable value multiplied by a "Multiplier" set by the Government each year. The multiplier cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation each year, and from 2005/06 there are two separate multipliers:
- The small business multiplier – 41.5p where the rateable value is under £15,000, and where the property qualifies for small business rates.
- The standard multiplier – 42.2p where the rateable value is £15,000 or over, or where the property does not qualify for small business rate relief.
The properties above the £15,000 threshold are charged using the higher multiplier to finance the cost of the smaller business rate scheme.