Business Rate Valuations Fall for a Second Month in August; City of London, Westminster and Cornwall Lead the Way

The Valuation OfficeThe government body that sets every property's Rateable Value. From April 2026 the VOA is part of HMRC (see below), but 'VOA' is still the common name for the valuation side of the work. cut more English rateable valuesThe official estimate of a property's annual rental value on a fixed valuation date. Your rates bill is based on this figure, not on what you actually pay in rent. than it raised for the second month running in August, taking a further £6.45m off the tax base — a deeper fall than July's £4.36m.

That reduction is worth roughly £2.8m a year to English businesses in lower business ratesThe tax most non-residential properties in England pay to their local council, similar to council tax but for shops, offices, warehouses and other business premises. at the 43.2p small business multiplierThe pence-in-the-pound rate the government sets each year. Your rates bill is roughly Rateable Value × multiplier, before any reliefs are applied., and more where the higher multipliers apply. Rateable values change when a property is altered, split, merged or recategorised, or when the Valuation Office corrects its own valuation.

The rateable value is the official estimate of the annual rent a commercial property would command on the open market at a set date. Your bill is that figure multiplied by a rate set by government, less any reliefs — so when the rateable value moves, the bill moves with it.

What moved in August

Across England, 2,285 commercial properties had their rateable value reviewed during the month: 997 were cut, 533 were raised and 755 came out unchanged. That is a net reduction of £6,447,735. Rateable value per square metreThe value per square metre used to build up a property's Rateable Value. Comparing your £/m² rate to similar nearby properties is the main way to check whether your RV looks too high. across the amended properties fell 3.05%, and the typical property that moved fell 3.68%.

Where the falls landed

Only eight of England's 296 billing authoritiesYour local council — the body that actually sends your bill and collects payment, using the Rateable Value the VOA has set. saw enough movement in August to be ranked. The City of London recorded the largest net fall in cash terms at £2.16m across 64 amended properties, followed by Westminster at £1.48m and Cornwall at £203,450. Sheffield (−£182,190) and Sandwell (−£152,300) followed.

Both London figures are concentrated: one property accounts for 45.5% of the City of London's movement and 41% of Westminster's, which is why we publish the cash figure rather than a percentage. Westminster's is the broader story — 30 of its 33 amended properties were cut.

Which property types moved

Offices did most of the work. Office rateable values fell £5.34m in August across 504 amended properties, on top of a £6.30m fall in July — £11.64m across the two months, the largest movement in the table. General Industrial was the steadiest faller, down £2.14m on the largest cohort of all. Shops swung from a £5.63m rise in July to a £0.97m fall in August, which is too volatile to call a direction of travel.

Storage and Distribution ran the other way, up £4.51m. Almost all of that is one warehouse in Bexley that was physically extended from 38,622 m² to 98,857 m², taking its rateable value from £4.99m to £10.72m. That is a genuine building, not a data fault — but it is worth knowing that England's August fall would have been around £12m without it.

Check and Challenge activity stayed high

1,896 Check and ChallengeThe three-stage official process for disputing your Rateable Value: 'Check' the facts held about your property, 'Challenge' the valuation with evidence, then 'Appeal' to an independent tribunal if it's still unresolved. cases were recorded in August across 293 councils, against 2,025 across 280 councils in July. Volume dipped about 6%, but formal Challenges rose from 31 to 47 and coverage widened by 13 authorities — so this is activity spreading out, not activity falling away.

Offices led on volume with 651 cases, ahead of Other (509), Industry (445) and Retail (291).

Rateable value is the figure your bill is calculated from, and the Valuation Office is currently amending it downwards more often than upwards. If you think yours is too high, a Check is the first step — and it is free. A full month-by-month breakdown sits on our monthly movements page.

You don't need to guess. Enter your postcode and we'll compare your rateable value to genuine local comparables, free, in about two minutes.