Reval2023 will help to rebalance business rates

Date published: 11 January 2023

Known as Reval2023, this revaluation process will result in a new non-domestic Valuation List being used to calculate business rate bills from April 2023.

Business rates are charged on most non-domestic premises including shops, offices, warehouses, factories, hotels and pubs as well as utilities such as gas, water, electricity and wind farms.

This revaluation has been delivered only three years since the last Valuation List was published in March 2020. This is the shortest time between revaluations ever delivered in any UK jurisdiction and is a response to calls by business ratepayers here for more frequent revaluations.

As with all revaluations the outcome can vary for an individual property, and not all ratepayers will see a reduced rateable valuation. Some sectors and locations have experienced above average growth.

64% of properties will see no change or their rateable value decreasing under Reval2023. This compares with 60% under Reval2020. Around 75% of non-domestic properties here are entitled to some form of rate relief, such as Small Business Rates Relief, Industrial De-Rating or Sport and Recreation Relief. In all but a very small number of cases, these reliefs are not affected by the revaluation.

Angela McGrath, Commissioner of Valuation at LPS said: “The revaluation means that from April, ratepayers will contribute to the funding of essential public services such as health, education and infrastructure as well as a wide range of council services relative to their 2021 rental value, instead of 2018 values as at present.

“The amount of money raised through rates will not change as a direct result of Reval2023. The purpose of this revaluation is to maintain fairness in the rating system, not to raise more revenue.”

The outcomes of the revaluation include:

• • A small reduction in the total value of non-domestic properties in Northern Ireland of 0.6% compared to the current Valuation List, which is based on 2018 values.
  • Many hospitality businesses will see values going down. There is a broad decrease in the value of pubs of 15% across Northern Ireland, with Belfast currently showing a 2% decrease and outside of Belfast showing a 22% decrease. Hotels are generally seeing a decrease of 24% on average across Northern Ireland.
  • The value of retail property is down on many high streets and shopping centres across Northern Ireland, while neighbourhood supermarkets and smaller multiple supermarkets are generally up. The overall change in retail Net Annual Values (NAV) is a decrease of 4% on the 2020 values.
  • The office sector across Northern Ireland shows an overall increase in rateable value of 10%.
  • Warehouse and storage property is up by 12% across Northern Ireland, in Belfast by 20% and outside Belfast by 9%.
  • Manufacturing property is up by 11% across Northern Ireland.
  • Renewable energy assets are seeing an increase of on average 70% across Northern Ireland.

Encouraging business ratepayers to view the draft schedule of values, Angela added: “Ratepayers can view the draft schedule of values on the Spatial NI platform. This will provide ratepayers with greater detail including a breakdown of how their value has been calculated as well as seeing the same information for similar properties in their local area and indeed for all similar properties across Northern Ireland. This gives ratepayers across Northern Ireland greater transparency in how the valuation has been calculated.

“I would encourage business ratepayers to go online and view the new draft values for their properties ahead of rate bills issuing in the Spring.”

As well as being able to view their new valuation online at a time that suits them, business owners can come along and talk to the Reval2023 team at events across Northern Ireland to find out more about what their new valuation means for them.

If ratepayers are unable to access the required information online they can contact LPS on Tel: 0300 200 7801.