Public Houses: Business Rates
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025 to Question 97528 on Electronic Cigarettes: Public Houses, whether a pub vaping ban would constitute a material change of circumstances for the purposes of the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation of pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
A vaping ban in pubs would not constitute a material change of circumstance that would impact the rating assessment of a property.
Section 14 of the Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023 in England, and in Wales, The Valuation for Rating (Prescribed Assumptions) (Wales) Regulations 2023, determined that any subsequent changes to legislation, government advice or policy could not be taken into account when determining the rateable value of a property.
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