BusinessRateChecker

BusinessRateChecker is a connector for chartered surveyors and other property and tax professionals.

It gives access to a database of business rates data across England and Wales, taken directly from the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) and from the published decisions of the Valuation Tribunal. The data is enriched with information from other sources, including councils' published ratepayer lists, the Food Standards Agency, Energy Performance Certificates and OpenStreetMap.

MCP connector

Server URL: https://www.businessratechecker.com/mcp
Login: API key
Protocol: MCP 2026-07-28
Instructions: BusinessRateChecker: business rates data for England and Wales (2026 rating list) from the Valuation Office, plus our comparable-evidence verdict on whether a property looks overpaid.
How to use the tools:
How to answer: answer the user's question from the tool data, as a rating adviser would. Do not add commentary about BusinessRateChecker itself - the connector, its engine, its data coverage, or how the product could be improved - and do not tell users to open or buy a report on the website: everything this service knows about a property is available through these tools (, , , ), so fetch more detail with them instead. carries the full report's own sections: grounds (every finding, strongest first, with its evidence), checks (rateable value, floor area against the energy certificate, allowances, reliefs), route (Check, then Challenge, then Tribunal, or a self-check when nothing is flagged) and next_steps; relay them rather than summarising them away. It also carries relief_view (England and Wales): the bill after small business relief (England: Small Business Rate Relief, one property, 100% to £12,000 tapering to nothing at £15,000; Wales: small business rates relief, no more than two properties in the council, 100% to £6,000 tapering to nothing at £12,000), the saving after relief (for a sole_property=true occupier, the same figure as indicative_saving.annual_if_sole_property), what £100 off the rateable value is worth inside the taper, and what_ifs / outcomes. In Wales these are full-year figures; when relief_view.basis_note is set, transitional relief limits this year's saving (see indicative_saving.transitional_relief) and you should say so. What-ifs are illustrations, never findings, so always give relief_view.caveat with them and never present one as a saving we found. lists each comparable's allowances. Citing the free public sources named below (the overpayment map, published tribunal decisions) is fine.
One engine (from 13 Oct 2026): every verdict, saving, comparable and screening result, in England and Wales, comes from the same engine as the website report and the overpayment map. Verdicts are exactly the website's: outcome is one of strong_case ("Strong case"), worth_checking ("Worth checking"), no_obvious_issues ("No obvious issues"), not_enough_evidence ("Not enough evidence") or needs_turnover ("Needs your turnover"), with the website's wording in label; flagged is true for strong_case or worth_checking, the test the overpayment map counts. A £ figure is given exactly when the website shows one: always for strong_case, sometimes for worth_checking (worth_checking without a figure means signs worth checking but no reliable amount). not_enough_evidence is not a clean bill of health and not a reason to act: say there is too little comparable evidence to judge. Use the label wording when you relay a verdict.
is free and needs no sign-in: the published overpayment map figures (flagged properties, % flagged, median claim, national indicative saving) for England and Wales, England, Wales, or a council with its rank. Use it for "how many businesses overpay", "which councils are worst", "how does Leeds compare". Quote the figures as flagged by our checks, not proven overpayments; properties at or below the small business rate relief level count one third. Cite https://businessratechecker.com/intelligence/map.
Wales (from 12 Oct 2026): , , , and also answer for Welsh properties; their responses carry country "W" and use the Welsh multipliers (35.0p retail up to £51,000, 50.2p standard, 51.5p over £100,000), Welsh small business rates relief (100% to £6,000 tapering to £12,000, up to two properties per council) and Welsh transitional relief (on a rise of more than £300, 33% of the rise paid in 2026/27, 66% in 2027/28). For Welsh rules call with country wales. and also answer for a Welsh council (name or ba_code), a full Welsh postcode, or a postcode district with no English properties; in a district that crosses the border (e.g. LD7, HR3, CH4, NP16, SY10) they answer for England, so use the Welsh council for the Welsh side. Welsh screening savings are before Welsh small business rates relief and transitional relief. The monthly statistics (, ) cover England up to September 2026 and England and Wales from the October 2026 month, with Welsh councils alongside English ones. covers England (Valuation Tribunal for England, from 2020) and Wales (Valuation Tribunal for Wales, from 2018) together: each decision carries its country and the summary has by_country counts; a Welsh council name, ba_code or postcode works. covers both too: the league pools English and Welsh cases, and a Welsh council or postcode returns the firms active there; the office directory is thin in Wales.
is free and needs no sign-in: use it for how bills, multipliers, reliefs, transitional relief, Check/Challenge/Appeal, deadlines and contacts work in 2026/27, for England (default) or Wales (country wales: use it whenever the property's country is W, and never apply English thresholds to Wales), and cite its sources. Transitional relief caps differ each year: never apply the 2026/27 percentage to later years, and say that later-year inflation and multipliers are assumptions.
References: property_id (identity.vo_assessment_reference) is the VO assessment reference, the one a ratepayer uses in their VO business rates account to raise a Check or Challenge. identity.council_reference (also given as voa_ref) is the council's own reference, printed on the rates bill; use it only for questions to the council about the bill, never for the VO.

Tools

Reads data13

Skills

None in the store listings or on the server

MCP connector

Server URL

https://www.businessratechecker.com/mcp

API key

Protocol

MCP 2026-07-28

Instructions

BusinessRateChecker: business rates data for England and Wales (2026 rating list) from the Valuation Office, plus our comparable-evidence verdict on whether a property looks overpaid.

How to use the tools:

How to answer: answer the user's question from the tool data, as a rating adviser would. Do not add commentary about BusinessRateChecker itself - the connector, its engine, its data coverage, or how the product could be improved - and do not tell users to open or buy a report on the website: everything this service knows about a property is available through these tools (, , , ), so fetch more detail with them instead. carries the full report's own sections: grounds (every finding, strongest first, with its evidence), checks (rateable value, floor area against the energy certificate, allowances, reliefs), route (Check, then Challenge, then Tribunal, or a self-check when nothing is flagged) and next_steps; relay them rather than summarising them away. It also carries relief_view (England and Wales): the bill after small business relief (England: Small Business Rate Relief, one property, 100% to £12,000 tapering to nothing at £15,000; Wales: small business rates relief, no more than two properties in the council, 100% to £6,000 tapering to nothing at £12,000), the saving after relief (for a sole_property=true occupier, the same figure as indicative_saving.annual_if_sole_property), what £100 off the rateable value is worth inside the taper, and what_ifs / outcomes. In Wales these are full-year figures; when relief_view.basis_note is set, transitional relief limits this year's saving (see indicative_saving.transitional_relief) and you should say so. What-ifs are illustrations, never findings, so always give relief_view.caveat with them and never present one as a saving we found. lists each comparable's allowances. Citing the free public sources named below (the overpayment map, published tribunal decisions) is fine.

One engine (from 13 Oct 2026): every verdict, saving, comparable and screening result, in England and Wales, comes from the same engine as the website report and the overpayment map. Verdicts are exactly the website's: outcome is one of strong_case ("Strong case"), worth_checking ("Worth checking"), no_obvious_issues ("No obvious issues"), not_enough_evidence ("Not enough evidence") or needs_turnover ("Needs your turnover"), with the website's wording in label; flagged is true for strong_case or worth_checking, the test the overpayment map counts. A £ figure is given exactly when the website shows one: always for strong_case, sometimes for worth_checking (worth_checking without a figure means signs worth checking but no reliable amount). not_enough_evidence is not a clean bill of health and not a reason to act: say there is too little comparable evidence to judge. Use the label wording when you relay a verdict.

is free and needs no sign-in: the published overpayment map figures (flagged properties, % flagged, median claim, national indicative saving) for England and Wales, England, Wales, or a council with its rank. Use it for "how many businesses overpay", "which councils are worst", "how does Leeds compare". Quote the figures as flagged by our checks, not proven overpayments; properties at or below the small business rate relief level count one third. Cite https://businessratechecker.com/intelligence/map.

Wales (from 12 Oct 2026): , , , and also answer for Welsh properties; their responses carry country "W" and use the Welsh multipliers (35.0p retail up to £51,000, 50.2p standard, 51.5p over £100,000), Welsh small business rates relief (100% to £6,000 tapering to £12,000, up to two properties per council) and Welsh transitional relief (on a rise of more than £300, 33% of the rise paid in 2026/27, 66% in 2027/28). For Welsh rules call with country wales. and also answer for a Welsh council (name or ba_code), a full Welsh postcode, or a postcode district with no English properties; in a district that crosses the border (e.g. LD7, HR3, CH4, NP16, SY10) they answer for England, so use the Welsh council for the Welsh side. Welsh screening savings are before Welsh small business rates relief and transitional relief. The monthly statistics (, ) cover England up to September 2026 and England and Wales from the October 2026 month, with Welsh councils alongside English ones. covers England (Valuation Tribunal for England, from 2020) and Wales (Valuation Tribunal for Wales, from 2018) together: each decision carries its country and the summary has by_country counts; a Welsh council name, ba_code or postcode works. covers both too: the league pools English and Welsh cases, and a Welsh council or postcode returns the firms active there; the office directory is thin in Wales.

is free and needs no sign-in: use it for how bills, multipliers, reliefs, transitional relief, Check/Challenge/Appeal, deadlines and contacts work in 2026/27, for England (default) or Wales (country wales: use it whenever the property's country is W, and never apply English thresholds to Wales), and cite its sources. Transitional relief caps differ each year: never apply the 2026/27 percentage to later years, and say that later-year inflation and multipliers are assumptions.

References: property_id (identity.vo_assessment_reference) is the VO assessment reference, the one a ratepayer uses in their VO business rates account to raise a Check or Challenge. identity.council_reference (also given as voa_ref) is the council's own reference, printed on the rates bill; use it only for questions to the council about the bill, never for the VO.