Business rates property valuation

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Business rates are charged on most non-domestic properties, such as:

  • Shops
  • Offices
  • Pubs
  • Warehouses
  • Factories
  • Holiday rental homes or guest houses

You will probably have to pay business rates if you use a building or part of a building for non-domestic purposes.

Pay business rates by Direct Debit or debit card.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA)

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are an executive agency of HMRC. They are responsible for valuing properties for the purpose of council tax and for non-domestic rates in England and Wales.

Apart from properties that are exempt from business rates, each non-domestic property has a rateable value. This is shown on the front of your bill.

Rateable values are the amount of yearly rent a property could have been let for on a set valuation date. For the current 2023 rating list, that date was 1 April 2021.

Councils use the rateable values to calculate business rates bills.

The VOA carries out revaluations to reflect changes in the property market. This means that business rates bills are based on more up-to-date information.

Who deals with what

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is responsible for the valuation of your property. Visit the GOV.UK website to:

At Peterborough City Council, we are responsible for anything to do with your business rates bill. Please contact us if you have a question about:

How to find out about your property valuation

For some types of property, you can find a breakdown of what is included in the valuation on the GOV.UK website. This may help you to understand how the property has been valued.

Find a business rates valuation on the GOV.UK website.

If you think your rateable value is too high

Where you disagree with the assigned rateable value, you should follow the 'Check, Challenge, Appeal' process with the VOA.

Check and challenge your business rates valuation on the GOV.UK website.

Please note - following the 2023 revaluation, the 2017 rating list is closing. Therefore businesses can now only appeal the rating with effect from 1 April 2023. It is too late to appeal any earlier date.

(2017 was the last time prior to 2023 that the VOA carried out a revaluation).

Many rating agents and surveyors will offer to put an appeal in for you. The majority are professionally qualified, but you are able to make the appeal yourself with no charge.

Businesses who do wish to be represented should be aware that members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation are qualified and are regulated by rules of professional conduct designed to protect the public from misconduct.

Before you employ a rating adviser or company, you should check that they have:

  • The necessary knowledge and expertise
  • Appropriate indemnity insurance

Please note - if you make an appeal, your business rates can go up, as well as down.

You should also continue to pay your business rates as billed until the outcome of your appeal is known.

Please direct any alteration queries to the VOA. We don't receive background information to alterations.

Contact the VOA - visit the GOV.UK website.

If the VOA holds incorrect or outdated information about your property

The following could all be grounds for appeal:

  • A physical change has been made to the property - for example, part of the property has been demolished
  • Part or all of your property is being used as a domestic residence
  • You think your property should be rated in separate parts, or several properties should be rated as one
  • You think there is an error in the rating list for your property - for example, the address or description is incorrect or a change in rateable value is shown as taking effect from the wrong date

We can report all the above changes to the VOA on your behalf as long as:

  • The change has already taken place
  • We hold enough information / evidence to support the change

If any of the above, applies to you, please email businessrates@peterborough.gov.uk.

The VOA has 90 working days to investigate any change requests we make (known as Billing Authority Reports).

If you have overpaid your business rates

We receive weekly updates from the VOA. If they agree to make an alteration then we will be able to issue revised demand notices quickly.

If the alteration results in an overpayment, then we can issue a refund to you via bank transfer. This is with the addition of statutory interest (if applicable). The Government sets the rates of interest payable each year.

To refund an overpayment, we need your bank account name, number and sort code. This is unless you currently pay your rates bill via Direct Debit (in which case the overpayment will be automatically refunded to you, without the need for you to get in touch).