Business Rates Revaluation as from 1 April 2026
The Scottish Rating Revaluation is a mandatory review of business property values for non-domestic rates which occurs every three years;
- taking effect April 1 2026
- based on rental levels from April 1 2025
- with draft notices issued November 30 2025
- final Notices issued by March 2026
- effective date of value, and rates invoice, 1 April 2026
- reflects rate poundages announced by Scottish Government each year
This allows property owners, tenants, occupiers to see new Rateable Values (RV) used for calculating their future business rates bills.
Scottish Government Announcement
The Scottish Government has just announced the rate poundages to be applied to the new Rateable Values as follows:
PREVIOUS v NEW
Rates Relief Schemes as from 1 April 2026
The government will be maintaining the following reliefs:
- Small Business Bonus Scheme
- Business Growth Accelerator reliefs
- Day Nursery
- Fresh Start reliefs
Small Business Bonus Scheme relief will be maintained at the existing rates and thresholds for the next three years of the revaluation i.e. 100% relief below RV £12,000
From 01 April 2026, those premises requiring a short-term let licence to operate (e.g. self-catering units) will only be eligible for Small Business Bonus Scheme relief if they have a short-term let licence.
For the duration of the three-year revaluation cycle, 15% relief is available to properties in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors with a max £100,000 RV/NAV capped at £110,000 per business per year.
The government will be extending the 100% relief for the three-year revaluation cycle, to properties in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors located on islands as defined by the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, and in three prescribed remote areas (Cape Wrath, Knoydart and Scoraig), capped at £110,000 per business per year.
Transitional Relief
The government are introducing a Revaluation Transitional Relief to protect those most affected by revaluation, and will cap increases in gross bills up to the next revaluation in 2029. Increases in NDR gross liabilities due to revaluation will be capped at 15% (cash terms) in 2026-27 for small properties, rising in subsequent years.
Small Business Transitional Relief will be introduced to those ratepayers losing, on 01 April 2026, eligibility for:
- Small Business Bonus Scheme relief
- Rural relief
- Hospitality relief
- Small Business Transitional Relief introduced for the 2023 revaluation cycle
Under Small Business Transitional Relief, eligible ratepayers will pay 25% of any increase to their net bill in the first year (2026-27), 50 per cent in the second year (2027-28) and 75% in the third year (2028-29).
The last date to challenge proposed Rateable Value is 31 July 2026.
New proposed Council Tax Bands!
Operating within the existing Council Tax framework, the Scottish Government will introduce new high value Council Tax bands for the most expensive residential properties from 01 April 2028. Two new bands will be created above the current highest band:
- Band I for properties valued between £1 million and £2 million; and
- Band J for properties valued above £2 million.
These bands will be based on up-to-date values for those properties only, with all other homes remaining on the existing Council Tax valuation framework.
This will be a complex issue for Assessors to identify all relevant properties from the current list with a large number of valuations required just to establish the bandings for those properties. We are sceptical that the process will produce income in excess of the perceived £5m cost.
Graham + Sibbald Thoughts & Opinions
In our opinion this is not a generous budget in relation to Business Rates.
Overall, the 2026 Valuation Roll has increased by 12.23% compared to the 2023 Valuation Roll (+£915m) however the poundage rates have only fallen by c.3.5%. In a system that is meant to be broadly revenue neutral we would have expected and hoped for a larger reduction in the poundage rates.
Ratepayers in the hospitality sector, where we have seen some significant increases in RV/NAV, will be particularly impacted by this budget. The following example, taken from a client’s hotel portfolio, illustrates that the significant increases in RV/NAV seen across the hotel sector will have a serious impact.
2025/26
RV/NAV: £485,000
Poundage: £0.568
Liability: £275,480
2026/27
RV/NAV: £718,000
Poundage: £0.548
Liability: £393,464
Not eligible for any retail, hospitality & leisure relief – exceeds intermediate property rate of £100,000.
Not eligible for any Transitional Relief as gross liability below the 50% cap for ‘large’ properties.
Increased Liability for 2026/27: £117,984
We are already investigating a number of draft 2026 Rateable Values on behalf of new & existing clients. We would encourage anyone who is concerned about their proposed 2026 Valuation Roll entry to contact the Rating Team at Graham + Sibbald as soon as possible for advice. The Assessor is empowered to increase as well as decrease values. They can correct an error, for example, if there have been changes to your property that affect it’s value.
Please enquire through the button below or contact a member of the team.
General Enquiry Form REVALUATION 2026
