Checked against the rating list and the rules in force as at 2026-08-23.
It depends on the rateable value and on how many properties you occupy. At £12,000 or below, with one property, the relief covers the whole bill. From there to £15,000 it tapers away. At £14,000, the example most people ask about, you are near the top of the band, so the proportion is modest. Either way the relief isn’t automatic. Someone has to claim it.
Full relief below the lower threshold: the whole bill.
Tapered relief between the two thresholds, falling away as the rateable value rises. At £14,000 you are near the top of the band, so the proportion is modest. For a small shop it is still a real sum every year.
Above the upper threshold the relief doesn’t apply at all.
| Your rateable value | What you get |
|---|---|
| £12,000 and below | Full relief on the whole bill |
| £12,000 – £15,000 | Tapered relief, falling away towards the upper figure |
| £15,000 and above | Does not apply, not worth your time |
On the 2026 list, 23.2% of London’s retail, hospitality and leisure premises have a rateable value of £12,000 or below, and a further 11.4% sit in the tapered band. By borough the full band runs from 53.7% of premises in Bexley and 45.9% in Lewisham to 2.6% in the City of London and 2.4% in Westminster. Rateable value alone puts you in the band. The bill shows whether the relief is on it.
Where you qualified and didn’t receive it, the relief can be backdated up to six years, for any period from 1 April 2012 onwards. There has been no application deadline since 2012.
The backdated element is often larger than the current year, because it settles several years at once. The condition is that you met the qualifying tests throughout.
You can claim on one property. If you occupy others, each of them has to be below a low rateable value ceiling. All of your properties added together must also come below an overall cap, and that cap is higher in London than elsewhere.
This catches people who open a second site. Taking on another property can cost you the relief on the first. There is a grace period, and how long it runs depends on when you acquired the additional property.
It isn’t complicated. It does need all your properties written down side by side before anyone can answer it.
Each additional property must have a rateable value below £2,899. All your properties together must come below £28,000 in London. Fail either test and the relief on the main property is affected.
The claim is a form on your council’s website. It’s free to submit and there’s no trick to it.
What we do is the part before that. We work out whether you qualify and roughly what it’s worth, so you don’t spend an afternoon on a form that was never going to succeed.
If you’d rather not deal with it at all, hand it over on the same 15% success fee.
Every retail and hospitality premises in London has been checked against the official rating list. Enter your address to see yours. No sign-up, no phone number.
Public data only. We do not ask for your rates bill, and there is nothing to upload.
If there's nothing to save, we say so.
Send your address, or a photo of your bill, and we’ll tell you within one working day whether there is anything worth looking at. WhatsApp 07594 933857.
If there's nothing to save, we say so. James replies personally within one working day, usually sooner. We reply by WhatsApp, text or email, never a cold call. No mailing lists.
Sources: Small Business Rate Relief (GOV.UK)
Each borough page carries the spread of rateable values and the value per square metre, by type of premises. It also ranks the most expensive streets in the borough. Those aggregations are ours.
We checked 109,537 London retail and hospitality premises against the 2026 rating list — seeing your street’s figures is free, no sign-up.