Non-domestic rates revaluation 2023 in Scotland

About this publication

This report provides a statistical analysis of the 2023 revaluation in Scotland, comparing the Scottish Assessors’ valuation roll as at 30 March 2023 (before revaluation took effect, as no changes were made on 31 March) and 1 April 2023 (the day revaluation took effect).

Designated utilities are reported as separate assessor and council areas throughout this report, rather than as part of the council and assessor area responsible for them, to avoid these properties with high rateable values distorting figures for the areas in which they are valued and rated.

In this report, entries which are not designated utilities, and which are entered in the valuation roll for the council area in which they are located, are described as local entries.

Figures relating to properties added to or removed from the valuation roll at revaluation, and those which had a change in the core description, are reported separately, to distinguish between changes happening due to revaluation from those which simply coincide with it.

The core description is a detailed description of the type of property, and there are over 200 different core descriptions. These will, for example, differentiate between a hotel, hostel, or a self-catering property.

An addition is any unique entry (distinguished by Unique Assessor’s Reference Numbers), which was present on the valuation roll on 1 April 2023, but not on 30 March 2023. Similarly, deletions are entries which were present on 30 March, but not on 1 April. Therefore, additions and deletions may actually include cases where multiple entries were merged into one, or where a single entry was split into multiple entries.

Interpretation and reporting conventions

Throughout this report, references to 2017 rateable values mean rateable values on 30 March 2023, before revaluation took effect. At the time of writing, a number of appeals against rateable values in the 2017 revaluation cycle remain outstanding, and any amendments made to 2017 rateable values after 30 March 2023 will not be reflected in this report.

Similarly, references to 2023 rateable values mean rateable values on the first day of the 2023 revaluation cycle, 1 April 2023. Ratepayers may make proposals and appeals against these rateable values, and some of these will result in amendments to rateable values being backdated to the start of the cycle. Any amendments made after 1 April 2023 will not be reflected in this report.

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly statistics relating to revaluation appeals.

Gross bills before and after revaluation are also presented in this report.

In all cases, the gross bill before revaluation is the gross bill in 2022 – 2023, sometimes referred to as the ‘2017 gross bill,’ is calculated using the rateable value as at 30 March 2023, and the poundage, supplements, and thresholds in place in the financial year 2022 – 2023.

The gross bill after revaluation is the gross bill calculated using the rateable value as at 1 April 2023, the poundage, supplements, and thresholds in place in the financial year 2023 to 2024. It is adjusted for the general revaluation transitional relief if the increase exceeds the transitional limit, except where noted otherwise. Some tables in the associated workbook also contain gross bills after revaluation without transitional relief adjustments. No relief other than the general revaluation transitional relief is taken into account.

The gross bill calculations do not take into account any changes to rateable values, for example as a result of revaluation proposals or appeals made after 30 March 2023 (for gross bills before revaluation) or 1 April 2023 (for gross bills after revaluation).

Tables accompanying this publication

This publication is accompanied by detailed tables, which are available on the supporting documents page. These tables are divided into five sections:

• Section 1 (Tables 1.0 to 1.4) contains summary tables, some of which are also available in the publication itself.
• Section 2 (Tables 2.0 to 2.16) contains detailed breakdowns of rateable values before and after revaluation, and of changes at revaluation. Breakdown categories include assessor and council areas, rateable value bands, property classes and core descriptions, and the direction and scale of change in rateable value. This section only relates to properties which were present on the valuation roll both before and after revaluation, with the same core description both before and after revaluation.
• Section 3 (Tables 3.0 to 3.16) presents the same breakdowns as Section 2, but relating to gross bills rather than rateable values. The order of breakdowns is the same as in Section 2, e.g. Table 3.5 presents the same breakdown for gross bills as 2.5 for rateable values. This section only relates to properties which were present on the valuation roll both before and after revaluation, with the same core description both before and after revaluation.
• Section 4 (Tables 4.0 to 4.3) contains information on properties which were added to or removed from the valuation roll at revaluation.
• Section 5 (Tables 5.0 and 5.1) relates to properties which were present on the valuation roll both before and after revaluation, but for which the core description has changed. These are presented separately as the change to the core description implies any change to rateable value also reflects a change in property type or use, and not just changes to market rental values reflected at revaluation.

Some cells in tables are marked [x], where figures are not available. For example, this is the case for the pre-revaluation rateable value of properties added to the valuation roll at revaluation.

The summary tables in Section 1, and all figures contained in this publication, are derived from the detailed tables in Sections 2 to 5.