Business rates

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, in April 2026, the government will replace retail, hospitality and leisure relief with two lower business rates multipliers for properties with rateable values below £500,000. 

New multipliers from April 2026 for retail, hospitality or leisure

Qualifying retail, hospitality, or leisure properties will be eligible for one of two new multipliers:

If want to check your previous, current and future ratable value.  

Details can be found on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/find-business-rates

How to apply for the lower multiplier

Mansfield District Council will be responsible for determining which properties are eligible for these multipliers in line with government guidance.  The lower multipliers cannot be applied automatically, as they are based on the property's use, not just the valuation description.

The Council has done an exercise to establish which properties meet the guidance and the demand notice for 2026/27 financial will reflect this.  Please email rhl@mansfield.gov.uk if you believe your business has been incorrectly categorised once you have received your 2026/27 demand notice and after you have read the qualifying criteria below.  

Business Rates Multipliers: Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure

Only properties that are ‘wholly or mainly’ used for a qualifying purpose, see further details below, will be eligible for the RHL multipliers. Whether a property is wholly or mainly used for a qualifying purpose will be fact specific. Mansfield District Council will need to consider what the main use of the property is. It may be appropriate to consider use of floor space, turnover, staff, or other suitable metrics. For example, opening a small retail business in a property that is mostly used for non-retail activity (such as office space) will not meet the definition.

Full eligibility details can be found on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure

Retail sale or hire of goods

Retail sale or hire of goods refers to the sale or hire of goods directly to the end user. It excludes wholesale sales and hires.

• Shops
• Supermarkets
• Charity shops
• Shopping centres
• Motorway service stations
• Florists
• Bakers
• Butchers
• Grocers
• Greengrocers
• Jewellers
• Stationers
• Off licences
• Chemists
• Opticians
• Newsagents
• Hardware stores
• Markets
• Petrol stations
• Garden centres
• Furniture shops/display rooms
• Car/caravan show rooms (including those for second-hand vehicles)
• Art galleries where art is for sale/hire

Properties from which:

• Domestic goods are hired
• Tools are hired
• Cars are hired
• Bicycles are hired

Properties used for the provision of a service

• Funeral directors
• Launderettes
• Hair and beauty salons. For example, hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops, salons carrying out non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and salons carrying out piercings.
• Tattooists
• Garages
• Shoe repairers
• Key cutters
• Dry cleaners
• PC/TV/Domestic appliance repairers
• Photo processers
• Post offices, excluding post office sorting offices and post depots where customers can only collect missed deliveries.
• Travel agents
• Ticket offices, for example, for the theatre.
• Animal grooming parlours/stabling of animals, unless stabling working animals, such as professional racehorses, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public.

Properties used for the sale of food or drink

This list is for properties used for the sale or food or drink, where the food or drink is for consumption on or off the property by visiting members of the public.

• Restaurants

• Takeaways, providing that the hereditament is generally open to visiting members of the public, even if the majority of their sales are online and/or done by delivery
• Sandwich shops
• Coffee shops
• Cafes
• Pubs
• Bars

Properties used for hospitality or accommodation as a business

• Hotels
• Boarding/guest houses
• B&Bs
• Holiday homes
• Apartments used for short-term lets, including serviced apartments where they are within scope of business rates
• Caravan parks
• Campsites

Properties providing cultural, community or recreational facilities to visiting members of the public

• Live music venues
• Nightclubs
• Cinemas
• Theatres
• Libraries
• Museums
• Galleries
• Archives
• Stately homes and historic houses
• Tourist information centres
• Public halls and village halls
• Venues for hire for events or activities, where the events and activities are principally for the benefit of visiting members of the public
• Sport and leisure facilities, such as gyms, sports grounds, and sports clubs
• Health spas, wellness centres, and massage parlours
• Casinos, gambling clubs, and bingo halls
• Theme parks
• Soft play centres
• Marinas
• Zoos
• Swimming pools, unless exclusively used by professional athletes, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public
• Skating rinks, unless exclusively used by professional athletes, as these would not be open to visiting members of the public

Properties used wholly or mainly for:

• Meetings by voluntary associations
• Youth groups for meetings and activities, such as scout huts
• Lectures or lessons undertaken for recreational purposes, such as art classes, pottery classes, language lessons and performing arts classes
• Activities such as bowling, laser tag, paintballing, escape rooms, and miniature golf

Properties that will not qualify for the lower multipliers

Properties that will not qualify for the lower multipliers include:

• Unoccupied properties
• Properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or above, even if used for a qualifying retail, hospitality or leisure purpose
• Properties which are wholly or mainly used for one of the excluded uses below

Examples of uses of properties that will not qualify for the lower multipliers

• Accommodation where a significant element of care is provided as part of the services provided by the business is not in scope. This means that properties such as nursing homes, children’s homes, and respite care facilities are not in scope.
• Financial services, such as banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de changes, short-term loan providers, insurance agents, financial advisers
• Medical and health services, such as medicine, dentistry, audiology/hearing services, cosmetic surgery, physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic services, acupuncture, herbal medicine
• Professional services, such as law, accountancy, tax advice, management consultancy, engineering services, architectural or surveying services, veterinary services, estate agency work, letting agency work
• Storage and distribution of goods for online sales such as warehouses. This means warehouses for online distributors are excluded, even if there is a small part of the warehouse that is open to visiting members of the public for in-person sales. However, where the property is wholly or mainly used for the sale of retail goods to visiting members of the public, it remains inside the definition of RHL, even if the hereditament is also used for online or click-and-collect services.
• Recording studios and film studios for business or professional use
• Crematoria
• Taxi/minicab firms
• Show homes
• Conference centres
• Betting shops
• Postal sorting offices
• Citizens’ advice bureaus
• Job centres
• Wharfs, piers and jetties
• Car parks
• Public transport hereditaments other than bicycle docking stations, such as bus and coach stations, bus and tram shelters, railway stations, tramway stations, airports, ferry ports, riverboat services, including piers used for river services
• Schools, creches, nurseries, colleges, and universities, as they are not open to visiting members of the public
• Properties used for the production of alcohol, such as breweries, unless wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public. For example mainly used as a bar and or for providing tours to the public, with the production of alcohol being ancillary to this
• Film and theatre production companies, as they are not open to visiting members of the public