Business rates revaluation bill finally gets moving

The legislative wheels of Government have finally started turning in relation to business rates revaluations moving from every five to three years, in the hope it will give more accurate values than the present system.

If you want to follow the progress of the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) Bill 2017-19 there is a handy tool here where you can see the step by step progress as it goes through the reading, committee and amendment stages.

The Bill, finally introduced by ministers last week, will not only see revaluations move to every three years but the next revaluation will be brought forward a year from 2022 to 2021. Parliamentary movement of the Bill delivers on commitments made by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget back in 2017 and the Spring Statement last year.

As a property’s non-domestic rates bill is based on an estimate of the premise’s rental value on a certain date, the move will hopefully ensure future rateable values reflect a truer market value of the property. Ministers also claim it will maintain fairness by redistributing the total amount payable across the country.

However, Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak MP said: “We’ve listened to businesses asking for more frequent revaluations and are now acting so their bills will more accurately reflect current property values. By bringing forward the next revaluation to 2021, we are making sure businesses can benefit from the change as soon as possible.”

Let’s hope that translates into a speedy pathway through Parliament.