Scottish Assessors have issued a consultation for the 2026 revaluation looking at self-catering (short-term let) properties. This will inform their approach to setting rates assessments, known as Rateable Values (RVs) and ultimately rates liability.
We strongly recommend that operators submit responses to this consultation. The link is here: Consultation – Review of Self-Catering Accommodation 2026 Practice Note.
The consultation closes on Friday 17th October 2025.
The Assessors 2023 valuation Practice Note can be found here: Self Catering Units.
General Background
Draft RVs are due to be published on 30th November 2025, and will come into force on 1st April 2026. There is then a deadline of 31st July to challenge these assessments, if appropriate. Thereafter RVs will remain in force until 1st April 2029, forming the basis of your rates liability.
The financial impact on operators of the revised RVs will not be known until the Scottish Budget is published in January 2026, when both the business rates to apply from April 2026 and also changes, if any, to the small business relief scheme, will be published. The threshold for 100% small business relief is currently RV £12,000, which was reduced from RV £15,000 at the 2017 revaluation. We have no indication from the Scottish Government if this threshold will be maintained or revised at the 2026 revaluation.
Rateable Value
The Assessors role is to set RVs of all self-catering properties in Scotland. In simple terms, this is the rental value of the property if you, as an operator, rented your property from a landlord, rather than owned it. This is a relatively simple process for properties such as shops and offices, where an established rental market exists between arms length landlords and tenants, but not for short-term let properties that are typically owner operated. Rents that are not considered open market rents are normally ignored when looking at RV levels. Excluded rents can, for example, include agreements between parties that are related to each other or have connected business interests.
There are currently 16,513 properties termed as self catering on the Assessors valuation roll, of which 501 have a tenant name against them. The assessor is intending to only look at these rented properties to influence the 2026 assessment levels, and thus your rates liability. We question whether these are genuinely open market rents, as many appear to be between connected parties. We suspect many of the agreements are for tax or other personal purposes rather than arms length leasing agreements. The use of these rents may lead to assessment levels that are excessive and unrepresentative of the ability to pay rates.
A copy of the consultation document follows, with our comments in yellow. This is intended to give guidance on the Assessors intentions and potential implications of any responses. We also recommend looking at the Assessors 2023 practice note when responding.
Our view is that Assessors should rely on profit and loss accounts, looking at levels of profitability and setting rates assessments as a percentage of average profits across the industry, adjusting for factors such as location, number of bed spaces, quality of accommodation etc.
Huge thanks to WYM Rating for this briefing.