How it works
Rightly Rated turns the Valuation Office’s published data into the evidence GOV.UK asks for, then guides you through submitting it yourself.
1. The free check
Search by postcode, address or the reference on your rates bill. We show your property’s 2026 rateable value and the summary valuation behind it: the floor area, the measurement basis, and the price per m² the Valuation Office applied to your main space (Zone A for most shops).
Then we look for comparable properties: the same Valuation Office category, the same measurement basis, between 0.4 and 2.5 times your floor area, starting on your street and widening to your postcode sector, district and council area. We compare your price per m² with theirs.
- Likely overvalued: your price is 7.5% or more above the comparables’ median.
- Looks fair: within 7.5% either way.
- Looks favourable: 7.5% or more below. We would not recommend a challenge.
- Unclear: more than 50% above. Gaps that big usually reflect a better location or a different property, so we refer you to a surveyor.
We only sell a pack when the evidence is at least moderate (enough close comparables, not too widely spread) and there is a saving to gain. Properties worth £500,000 or more, and specialist properties without a floor-area valuation, need a professional.
The estimated saving uses the 2026/27 multipliers and, where it probably applies, small business rate relief. It ignores transitional relief and other reliefs, so treat it as a guide.
2. The evidence pack
Your pack unlocks the comparables themselves (addresses, billing authority references, UARNs, floor areas, prices per m² and line items), our reasoning, a proposed rateable value and effective date, a draft supporting statement written only from those facts, and a checklist of what only you can add: rent details if you rent, and photographs.
3. The guided challenge
GOV.UK requires three stages: claim your property in a business rates valuation account (up to 15 working days), raise a Check and wait for the decision, then start a Challenge within 4 months of that decision. Your dashboard tracks each date and we remind you before the deadline.
What we are not
We are not rating surveyors and we never act for you with the Valuation Office. For complex or very high-value properties, a RICS-regulated surveyor may be the better choice.
Rightly Rated is a self-serve evidence tool, not a rating surveyor or adviser. Figures come from the Valuation Office’s published 2026 rating list and from what you tell us. We do not act for you with the Valuation Office, and a challenge can lower, keep or raise a rateable value.