RETAILERS and hospitality businesses in the north can expect to see huge cuts in their rates bills from April following a revaluation of non-domestic premises conducted by Land & Property Services (LPS).
Following the review, the third in eight years, hotels are generally seeing a decrease of 24 per cent on average across Northern Ireland.
There is a broad decrease in the value of pubs of 15 per cent, but in Belfast the drop is only around 2 per cent, with rural pubs showing a 22 per cent decrease.
And the value of retail property is down on many high streets and shopping centre, while neighbourhood supermarkets and smaller multiple supermarkets are generally up. The overall change in retail net annual values (NAV) is a decrease of 4 per cent on the 2020 values.
But firms in other sectors will see their bills rise significantly, including warehouse and storage property (up by 12 per cent generally but by 20 per cent in Belfast); manufacturing property (up 11 per cent), and offices (up 10 per cent).
And the big losers are renewable energy assets, which will endure an average increase of 70 per cent across the north.
Some 75,000 business - which between them rake in rates of £650 million a year - were assessed in the latest valuation.
Angela McGrath, commissioner of valuation at LPS said: “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.”
Businesses can view the draft schedule of their values at: https://valuationservices.finance-ni.gov.uk/DraftSchedule/Search
