Evidence to Scottish Parliament Highlights Concerns Over Self-Catering Rates Valuation Methodology

This week, Fiona Campbell MBE, Chief Executive of the ASSC, gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee as part of its scrutiny of Non-Domestic Rates and the forthcoming 2026 revaluation.

In her contribution, she highlighted growing concerns within Scotland’s self-catering sector about the way properties are now being valued for business rates.

At the centre of the evidence was a clear message: what the sector is experiencing is not a routine revaluation but the result of a fundamental change in valuation methodology. The outcomes, she argued, suggest that the current approach is producing distorted results for many operators.

The self-catering sector, which is made up largely of small and micro-businesses, is already seeing a number of significant impacts.

These include substantial increases in rateable values, often far beyond what could reasonably be explained by market conditions, alongside a rising number of businesses losing eligibility for the Small Business Bonus Scheme. At the same time, operators are facing growing complexity in the system, with many struggling to understand how valuations have been calculated or how available reliefs apply to them.

While acknowledging the introduction of reliefs and the work undertaken by Assessors to review draft valuations, she told the Committee that these measures should be viewed as mitigations rather than long-term solutions.

“The core issue remains the methodology itself,” she said.

The evidence called for a shift from short-term mitigation towards a more fundamental correction of the system. This includes targeted intervention to address the valuation approach currently applied to self-catering properties, a full review of the methodology ahead of the 2029 revaluation cycle, and interim measures to prevent ongoing distortion in the meantime.

The argument, she stressed, is not about avoiding taxation but about ensuring the system operates fairly.

“This is not about avoiding tax. It is about ensuring that taxation is fair, transparent and grounded in economic reality.”

With the Scottish Government holding both the powers and precedent to intervene, the message to policymakers was clear: the issue has now been identified.

“The question is no longer whether there is a problem,” she concluded. “It is whether there will be action.”