Is your 2026 rateable value too high?
Check before you challenge. Business Rates X-Ray helps you work out whether a large increase is simply part of the 2026 revaluation or whether the property facts, £/m² or comparison evidence deserve a closer look.
No phone number. No sales call. Your free calculation stays in your browser, and the result can tell you there is no strong reason to challenge.
Worth investigating
Your increase is well above the broad sector movement, and one property fact still needs verification.
What are you trying to work out?
Most people do not arrive looking for an “evidence pack”. They arrive because a number looks wrong, a bill jumped, or they are wondering whether a challenge is worth the effort.
“Is my rateable value too high?”
See the warning signs that deserve investigation, and the things that look dramatic but prove very little on their own.
Check the warning signs →“What should my 2026 bill roughly be?”
Use the current England multipliers for a basic pre-relief estimate, with the limitations made explicit.
Use the 2026 calculator →“Can I challenge this?”
Understand the Check, Challenge and Appeal sequence before committing time or money.
Understand the process →The uncomfortable answer is sometimes “do nothing.”
A checker that finds a lucrative appeal behind every property is not much of a checker. X-Ray is designed to surface evidence for and against taking action.
Find the official figures
Start with the VOA/GOV.UK record. If you do not have the numbers yet, the checker sends you to the official lookup and keeps your place.
Test the facts and context
Check the property details, calculate £/m² and compare the change with the official broad 2026 sector movement.
Decide what deserves effort
Get a cautious next step: broadly consistent, verify facts, investigate comparisons or seek specialist review.
A big increase is not automatically an error.
The 2026 compiled list changed aggregate rateable value across sectors and regions. Our Revaluation Explorer lets you compare your own percentage change with official broad sector benchmarks without pretending an average is a property-level valuation.
Why this distinction matters
- A sector average is context, not comparator evidence.
- A nearby property is not automatically comparable.
- Wrong floor area or use can matter more than a dramatic percentage increase.
- Your council bill and your rateable value are related, but they are not the same question.
Know whether the evidence justifies taking this further.
The free X-Ray gives you the first sense-check. The Evidence Pack organises what supports a challenge, what weakens it, what is still missing and the sensible next move.
You are paying for clarity before committing to a larger professional fee or a formal challenge process.
We have less incentive to frighten you.
Rates X-Ray does not earn a bigger fee because your valuation looks wrong. The methodology publishes its screening thresholds, separates official rules from our own heuristics, and tells you when professional advice is more appropriate.