Business rates for B&Bs and guest houses
Guest and boarding houses rose by about the same amount as pubs, but get none of the pub relief — most B&Bs are small enough to fall under small business rate relief instead.
Guest and boarding houses rose by about the same amount as pubs, but get none of the pub relief — most B&Bs are small enough to fall under small business rate relief instead.
What the 2026 revaluation did to b&bs and guest houses
| Category | Properties, England & Wales | Total RV change | Mean RV, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest and boarding houses | 6,940 | +30.7% | £9,700 |
VOA 2026 compiled-list statistics, GOV.UK, 2026. As of 2026. Total RV change, not the median property change.
How the reliefs interact
B&Bs and guest houses are excluded from Wales’s 15% Food & Drink Hospitality Rates Relief, but are due to move onto the lower Welsh retail multiplier from April 2027, subject to Senedd approval.
At a mean RV of £9,700, most guest houses in England will qualify for small business rate relief rather than needing the RHL multiplier at all — see our small business rate relief page.
Illustrative example — guest house, RV around £9,700 (not a real client)
At this scale, the practical priority for most operators is confirming small business rate relief is correctly applied, not a formal RV challenge.
See: small business rate relief.
Get help
Use the calculator to see what your bill should look like with these reliefs applied, or send us your details below and, if you'd like, we can pass them to the RICS-regulated rating firm we work with.
We're a bar owner's information site, not a surveyor. If you send this form, we may pass your details to a RICS-regulated rating firm we work with, who will contact you. They would pay us if you instruct them. You can check your valuation yourself free on the Valuation Office's service. No one can guarantee a reduction.