Evidence

How to prove the nights you let to the Valuation Office Agency

The evidence the VOA asks for is a set of figures with the bookings behind them. Here is what to keep, and what to send.

Correct as of 2026-11-11.

When the letter arrives

The Valuation Office Agency can write to you at any time to ask whether a property is being run as a business. When the letter lands you have 56 days to return the form.

That deadline is why the record has to exist before it is needed. A figure you can put together in an afternoon is worth much more than one you have to reconstruct over a week.

What the form asks for

For each financial year the form asks for nights available and nights actually let. The answer needs to cover three financial years, and the figures have to line up with the bookings behind them.

So the record you need is not just a total. It is:

every stay, with its dates, channel and booking reference;
a dated record that the property was open to book, so the 252 nights available can be shown and not just claimed;
the nights let split into commercial and charity stays, so the 14 night charity cap can be applied correctly;
the money, if you are asked for income as well as nights.

Keep it as you go

The simplest way to be ready is to never let the record fall behind. Every booking recorded on the day it happens, from every channel, with the same counting rules applied throughout the year.

nos reads your calendars, keeps one count across all of them, and produces the figures laid out as the form asks, with the bookings behind every line, in one PDF. There is also a countdown from the day the letter lands.

Free access for your accountant is included in every plan, so the person who does your return can see the same figures you do.

The figures only stand up if the nights behind them were counted correctly. How to count your nights covers what counts and what does not, and the 182 night rule sets out the tests the figures have to satisfy.

nos gives guidance, not tax advice. Only the Valuation Office Agency decides how a property is classified. Check anything that matters against the official guidance linked below.

Sources

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