VOA sets out when EV charging bays form a separate rates hereditament

Charging bays for electric vehicles that sit in someone else's car park now have their own Valuation Office Agency rating manual entryGOV, and whether they form a separate business-rates hereditament turns principally on the occupational agreement behind themGOV. The new Section 6 Part 3 entry covers bays typically located within the car park of another hereditament that require a separate list entry, described as ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING BAYS AND PREMISES under SCAT code 718 with suffix G. Regional Valuation Units assess these sites under the coordination of the Transport Class Coordination Team.

A lease of the bays is normally a strong indicator that the host has parted with possessionGOV: the tenant's covenant of quiet enjoyment confers exclusive possession and general control, so separately leased bays will likely form a separate hereditament with its own entryGOV. The position reverses under a licence or hosting agreement — the landlord retains control and exclusive possession and may relocate the baysGOV — or a management and digital-services agreement, where the host owns the equipment, sets the price and keeps the income while paying the operator a commission for management and billing support. In both cases the bays stay in the host's occupation with no separate entryGOV. Surveyors record bay and charge-point counts, the host setting, and the equipment brand, which does not by itself identify the rateable occupier.

Bays on the public highway or on street will in most cases not enter the lists at allGOV. Although delineated bays may be identifiable, there is no rateable occupierGOV: the highway vests in the local authority only so far as control and maintenance for public use require, which is not rateable occupationGOV, and the operator's benefit from the bay does not put it in rateable occupation either, following Milton Keynes Council v Alexander (VO) [2018] UKUT 366 (LC) and Dorset County Council v Reeves [2014].

Sites are valued from rental evidence for charging bays, with a warning that headline rents may have been agreed on the mistaken assumption that no rates would fall on the tenant — whether because the host was assumed liable or because the 2022 plant and machinery changes were read as excepting the bays themselvesGOV, which they do notGOV. Carving bays out of an existing hereditament will normally mean reconstituting the host, with a review of the host's value where it has parted with possession.

The twin practice notes agreed with a consortium of the largest charge-point operatorsGOV fix a price per bay by sub-location and regionGOV. Practice Note 1 (2023 list) runs from £1,800 a bay for prime sitesGOV such as motorway service areas — a flat rate irrespective of location — down to £140–£200 for average sitesGOV such as village halls. Practice Note 2 (2026 list) updates the market appraisal — public charge points rose from just under 30,000 in late 2021 to almost 74,000 by the end of 2024, with ultra-rapid chargers and dedicated hubs surging — and raises the scale to £2,000 primeGOV and £175–£250 averageGOV; four bays in a prime Manchester retail park score EVC2 at £1,500 a bay, £6,000 in total, against £4,600 on the 2023 scale. Forecourts or hubs with retail, catering or canopies go back to the coordination teamGOV.

Legal basis: Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018; Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2022, in force 1 April 2022, excepting plant and machinery used mainly or exclusively for power storage, transformation or transmission for a charging point on any day before 1 April 2035GOV — an exception for the equipment that does not extend to the bay sites themselvesGOV.