The short answer
There is no legal requirement to use a specialist, and the HMRC Valuation Office’s process is designed to be used without one. For a straightforward case, particularly a factual error, doing it yourself is often the right call. For a case that turns on rental evidence, a specialist usually has access to evidence you don’t, and most work on a no-win-no-fee basis. Neither route guarantees a reduction.
What doing it yourself involves
- Set up a business rates valuation account on GOV.UK and claim your property.
- Check - confirm or correct the factual details the Valuation Office holds about your property (floor area, use, layout). This stage is free.
- Challenge - within four months of the Check completing, set out why the rateable value is wrong and provide evidence: comparable rental evidence, lease terms, or details of a physical change. This stage is also free, and it is where most of the work sits.
- Appeal - if the Challenge doesn’t resolve the case, you can refer it to the independent Valuation Tribunal for England within four months of the Challenge decision. This carries a fee of up to £300, refunded if the appeal succeeds. If the Challenge is unresolved after 18 months you can also proceed to appeal.
Expect the Check to take weeks to months and the Challenge six to eighteen months or longer. Any agreed reduction is backdated to the date the Check was submitted, so timing matters more than who submits it. For the full process, see our step-by-step guide to appealing your rateable value.
When doing it yourself is the right choice
- The problem is factual. Wrong floor area, wrong property description, a part of the building that no longer exists. A Check corrects this without any valuation argument, and no one can do it better than the person who knows the building.
- The change is physical and obvious. A demolished extension, a road closure, lost parking. These are Material Change of Circumstances cases where the evidence is a photograph and a date, not a rental analysis.
- The sums are small. If your rateable value is £12,000 or below and Small Business Rate Relief already takes your bill to zero, there is nothing to save, whoever handles it.
- You have the evidence already. If you hold recent rental evidence for comparable properties, for example because you’re a landlord with several units, you are as well placed as anyone to present it.
When a specialist tends to add value
- The case turns on rental evidence. Rating surveyors have access to comparable rental evidence that is not publicly available. A Challenge is decided on evidence, and this is usually the deciding difference.
- Your sector is valued on a non-standard basis. Hotels, pubs, leisure and healthcare property are often valued on trading or contractor’s basis rather than straight rental comparison. Knowing the Valuation Office’s method for your sector is what makes a Challenge land.
- There’s a risk of an increase. If you’ve improved the property since the valuation date, a Check can lead to an upward revision. A specialist assesses that risk before anything is submitted; on your own, you find out afterwards.
- You have several properties. Consistency across a portfolio is hard to argue property by property.
- You don’t have the time. A contested Challenge is months of correspondence. The cost of doing it yourself isn’t the fee, it’s the hours.
When a specialist adds little
- Factual corrections and clear-cut MCC cases, as above.
- Properties already within full Small Business Rate Relief.
- Cases where a firm can’t tell you, before you sign, what evidence they would rely on. If they can’t say, they don’t have an edge over you.
What a specialist costs
Most specialist representation is available on a no-win-no-fee basis: nothing upfront, and a fee calculated as a percentage of the saving if a reduction is achieved. That percentage, and whether it applies to the annual saving, the backdated refund, or both, varies by firm and should be in writing before you sign. See our guide on how no-win-no-fee business rates reviews work. Whether an arrangement is a good deal depends on the fee against the likely saving, and against what you could achieve yourself with a Check.
How to decide
Ask three questions. Is my problem factual or valuation-based? Do I have, or can I get, comparable rental evidence? Is there a risk the property is under-assessed? If the answers are factual, yes, and no, do it yourself. Otherwise, get a view from a specialist before committing, and make sure you understand the fee.
Our free eligibility check gives an indication of whether your rateable value looks out of line with comparable properties, before you go either route. If you’d like a specialist’s view, the check can refer suitable cases to independent, RICS-regulated surveyors on a no-win-no-fee basis; there’s no obligation, and nothing is submitted without your say-so. Whoever you use, our guide on how to spot a legitimate business rates advisor sets out what to check first.