Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the viability of public houses of the method by which business rates are currently calculated.

Brandon Lewis

Decisions on rateable values are made independently of Ministers by the Valuation Office Agency. All rateable values are based on the rental value of the property and for public houses rates are based on actual rents paid by tenants. Ratepayers should contact the Valuation Office Agency if they are concerned about their rateable value and may appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunal if their dispute cannot be resolved.

As part of our review of business rates administration, the Government will consider options for arriving at a rental based assessment for non-domestic properties including public houses and the discussion paper, published last month, invites views on this issue.