Today marks an important date in the Non-Domestic Rating calendar.
The 2023 Rateable Values “RVs” that are due to take effect from 1st April 2023 (and form the basis of annual rates charges for the next 3 years) will be published by the local Assessors in draft format and issued to businesses by way of a Draft Valuation Notice.
The purpose of the 1st April 2023 Revaluation is to adjust the RVs of business properties to reflect changes in the property market since the last Revaluation. The last Revaluation in Scotland was 1st
April 2017. To say a lot has changed since then would be an understatement.
Each new RV will be the assessor’s estimate of the rental value of each property based on statutory set hypothetical letting terms and rental values benchmarked at the valuation “tone date” of 1 April 2022.
CBRE expect to see RVs in the office sector in Aberdeen moderately reduced from their current levels set in 2017 by the Assessor but falls won’t be uniform as some more modern open plan buildings will have performed better than the more traditional offices. The industrial sector has performed better in the region and don’t be surprised to see only minimal RV reductions.
In the city centre some retail properties in Union St, Bon Accord and Trinity should witness significant decreases in RVs but Union Square RVs will hold up better reflective of the change of shopping patterns in the city.
Valuations of pubs and hotels are more difficult to predict as their RVs are related to turnover in the year to April 2022. Given that in the year to April 2022 trade was impacted by Covid 19 restrictions its hard to predict where the Assessor will pitch their 2023 RVs.
The above are only generalised predictions and as each property is unique businesses should review their individual draft Rateable Values with their rates advisor on receipt. Also and importantly businesses will need to wait until the Scottish Budget on 15th December to find out what tax rate will apply and what their actual liabilities will be next year.
Brian Rogan is Senior Director in Aberdeen office for CBRE Ltd and head of their Scottish Rating team