Alistair Hardaker | Image: Trustees of the Natural History Museum
Valuation Tribunal rules the Natural History Museum’s rateable value should be £1 rather than £12.9m, in a decision with implications for other museums.
The Natural History Museum’s rateable value has been cut from £12.9 million to £1 following a Valuation Tribunal for England ruling.
The tribunal ruled that the museum should have a nominal rateable value of £1 in the 2017 Rating List, effective from 1 April 2017. According to the law firm that acted in the case, initial work on appealing the decision has been abandoned, meaning the ruling stands.
The tribunal accepted that because the museum’s occupation is inherently loss-making, no commercially motivated person would take on such a letting, and the rateable value should therefore be nominal. The decision follows previous case law on this point.
The valuation used the Receipts and Expenditure method, in line with three Upper Tribunal cases concerning regional museums. Under this approach, the museum’s own accounts were used to demonstrate an inability to trade profitably.
Helen Whitehouse, chief operating officer of the Natural History Museum, said: “This is another important business rates ruling for the museums sector which is already facing significant headwinds given the wider backdrop and long-term pressure on finances.
“This is a positive decision, which reflects the economic realities of a museum’s accounts and the common-sense evaluation that we are the only realistic tenant for the building we occupy – this is the case for many, if not all, museums who are charities and/or public bodies like ours.”
Mills & Reeve acted for the Natural History Museum, with a team including Richard New, Stefano Frullini and Hannah Prew.
Richard New, real estate disputes partner at Mills & Reeve, said: “It was agreed the correct valuation approach was the Receipts and Expenditure (R&E) method, in line with three Upper Tribunal cases regarding regional museums. This means where a museum’s mode of occupation is inherently loss making, the hypothetical rent – and therefore the rateable value – must be nil or nominal as the Natural History Museum’s own accounts clearly demonstrated an inability to trade profitably This led to the Valuation Tribunal for England reducing the rateable value from £12.9m to £1.”
The case is cited as The Trustees of the Natural History Museum v Valuation Officer 2026.
