Member's statement: Reval2026

Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Ms Diane Forsythe

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Reval2026

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5340186

Read the official Assembly record

Text

On Thursday past, businesses across Northern Ireland received notifications from Land and Property Services (LPS) of revaluations of their business premises as a result of Reval2026. We all know that property valuations have increased, and most businesses expected it. What those businesses received, however, was outrageous, and the situation has been handled so badly. Let me be clear: Reval2026 was not issued by the Executive. It was not voted for in the Assembly. The revaluation exercise was completed by LPS and was issued under the direction of John O'Dowd, the Sinn Fein Finance Minister. The catastrophic, unbuffered impact on local businesses seems to have been of no concern to the Sinn Féin Ministers in either Economy or Finance. There appears to have been no appraisal of the economic consequences of the revaluation. The statement on the Department of Finance's website says that the revaluation is "revenue neutral" and:

"Revaluations do not raise additional income; regional and district rate poundages are adjusted to maintain revenue-neutrality."

In the real world, however, that is ludicrous. Property valuations are used by LPS to multiply the rates factor in order to generate rates bills for every property owner and business owner. The increased valuations mean increased rates bills. Every business owner across the country has recalculated their rates bills based on the new valuations that were issued last week. The new bills will be crippling for so many. Hotels face a hike in their rates bills of 85%, and the bills for pubs will increase by 57%. Hospitality Ulster has said that that may be the final nail in the hospitality industry's coffin. For weeks at the Finance Committee, I have been asking what Reval2026 will mean for businesses, whether they have they been warned and what the impact will be, only to face continued feedback that it will not make a huge difference. Here we are, however; the reality is stark. The revaluation will cost jobs, livelihoods and well-established businesses across our cities and towns. That is before the Finance Minister's planned 3% increase in business rates in each of the next three financial years, as per his multi-year Budget proposals, and the local council rates hikes. That is absolutely unacceptable, and it has been handled so badly. The Finance Minister must reflect on what he has issued here. The Sinn Féin Finance and Economy Ministers must not ignore pleas from local businesses. Whilst we know that Sinn Féin does not want to see Northern Ireland succeeding, is that the case at any cost, including closing businesses, making workers unemployed and crippling our local economy? I will be clear on this: the DUP stands firmly with our local businesses. We will fight on their behalf against this catastrophic action by Sinn Féin.

458 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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