A draft revaluation by Land And Property Services of hotels and public houses in Northern Ireland has significantly reduced in value many of the properties. This process is known as Reval2023 and this creates a new non-domestic valuation list which will be used in the calculation of business rate bills from April 2023.
Business Rates Are Charged On Most Non-Domestic Premises
Business rates are of course charged on most non-domestic premises which includes shops, offices, warehouses, factories, hotels and pubs as well as utilities such as gas, water, electricity and wind farms.
It is only 3 years since the last revaluation, following calls from a large chunk of business rate payers for the process to be run once more. There was a decrease in the value of pubs of 15% across Northern Ireland, with interestingly Belfast only showing a 2% decrease but outside of Belfast a whopping 22% fall, which is quite a contrast. In the meantime hotels had a decrease of 24% on average across Northern Ireland.
The Purpose Of This Revaluation Is To Maintain Fairness In The Rating System
Angela McGrath, commissioner of valuation at Land And Property Services, is quoted in an article in Belfast Live, saying: “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.”
She went on to say that:
“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.”
It is perhaps unsurprising that renewable energy assets are seeing the largest increase in valuations, up around 70% on average, seeing we are in such a crisis with regard to energy prices and the fact that renewable energy sources are becoming more and more essential for us all.
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