Revaluation legislation will fail to pass in this Parliament

In our last update, we outlined how the proroguing of Parliament had raised the prospect of a delay to the 2021 revaluation following the abandonment of the necessary primary legislation. While the Supreme Court’s judgement on the prorogation saw Parliament continue to sit – raising the prospects of the Bill receiving Royal Assent soon – new developments have made this more unlikely.

We understand that the Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) Bill 2017-19 has not been scheduled for any further debate before the Queen’s Speech and the start of a new Parliament next Monday (14th October). As such, the Bill will fail to pass.

It seems likely the Bill will be included in the Queen’s Speech, but will have to start its progress through Parliament from scratch. This is particularly frustrating given how close it was to obtaining Royal Assent. There is also widespread anticipation of a General Election in the short-to-medium term, which would itself reset any progress made by a new Bill.

By our estimation, the Bill will take approximately six months to pass through a new Parliament, and needs to have Royal Assent by the Summer 2020 recess if the necessary arrangements are to be in place for a revaluation in April 2021. A new Bill will need to be introduced no later than January – and not interrupted by a General Election – for these deadlines to be met.

The chances of disruption to this timetable – and therefore a delay to the revaluation until at least April 2022 – look to be high.

There are three possible paths from here:

1. If the Bill is included in the Queen’s Speech, introduced by January and there is no General Election…

the legislation should pass in time for a 2021 revaluation as promised by the Government.

2. If the Bill is included in the Queen’s Speech, but there is a General Election before June 2020…

the legislation is unlikely to pass in time and the revaluation will in all probability be delayed until 2022.

3. If the Bill is omitted from the Queen’s Speech…

the revaluation will almost certainly be delayed until 2022.

This remains a situation very much in a state of flux. As ever, we will continue to monitor progress and maintain dialogue with the Government to keep you as up to date as possible.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss how these latest developments impact on your business rates planning.