GLOSSARY
Business rates glossary
The jargon on a rates bill, in plain English. Every term links through to the detail, or just check your bill.
- Billing authority
- The local council that issues and collects your business rates bill.
- Business rates multiplier
- The pence-in-the-pound figure applied to your rateable value to work out the bill.
- Check and Challenge
- The VOA's free process for correcting and appealing your rateable value.
- Demand notice
- The official business rates bill your council sends.
- Empty property relief
- A rates-free period for unoccupied property, three months, or six for industrial.
- Hereditament
- The technical term for a single rateable property unit.
- Net rate payable
- The final amount you owe after all reliefs are applied.
- Rateable value
- The VOA's estimate of a property's annual open-market rent, used to calculate business rates.
- Rating list
- The VOA's official register of all rateable values.
- Retail, Hospitality & Leisure relief
- A lower multiplier (38.2p) for qualifying shops, pubs, cafés and similar premises.
- Revaluation
- The periodic VOA update of all rateable values; most recently in 2026.
- Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR)
- Relief of up to 100% for properties with a rateable value below £15,000.
- Supporting Small Business Relief
- Caps bill increases for ratepayers who lost relief at a revaluation.
- Transitional relief
- Caps how much your bill can rise in a year after a revaluation.
- UARN
- The Unique Authority Reference Number identifying a property on the rating list.
- Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
- The government agency that sets rateable values for business rates.