A notorious firm of business rates agents was blasted by a judge after its lawyers wanted to charge nearly £11,000 for a dispute over a claim of barely £2,000.
I’ve repeatedly told how RVA Surveyors tricks people who run small firms into signing contracts to get their rates reduced and then charges huge fees, even when it does little or nothing to achieve a cut.
One deeply unhappy client is hair salon owner Jude Carter, who sued RVA for the return of £2,361.
Ms Carter broke down in tears when she lost the case and was presented with a £10,756 demand for legal costs. She accepted she had signed the agreement with the company which stated that she was still bound by it even if RVA was shown “not to be the effective force” in securing the rates reduction.
Ms Carter had argued that she did not understand the contract that she signed, but District Judge John Neaves said she was bound by it even though, referring to the small print, he remarked: “I should have brought my magnifying glass.”
The contract included a clause obliging Ms Carter, of Hunmanby, near Scarborough, to pay RVA’s legal costs in the event of any dispute.
But the judge was scathing about the “excessive and unreasonable” amount claimed by the legal team acting for Manchester-based RVA, led by commercial lawyer Lisa Feng.
“I find it absolutely staggering that the court is presented with a costs schedule that amounts to over £10,500 in a straightforward small claim for a very modest amount of money,” he said.
“I find it absolutely astonishing that one item alone exceeds by a considerable amount the entirety of Miss Carter’s claim.
“It is far in excess of what I would regard as a reasonable fee for a junior barrister on a small claims case.”
He said the legal team was entitled to its travel costs because it was the claimant who had insisted on a face-to-face rather than virtual hearing, and reduced the figure to £3,500, which is still a huge blow for Ms Carter.
She was represented by lay advocate Steven Simon who accused RVA of "hammering away at small businesses" by demanding commission for rates reductions that came about because of the rates holiday granted by the government during the pandemic.
RVA Surveyors is run from Manchester by Stephan Hughes, 56.
In May, Ms Carter's MP, Kevin Hollinrake, raised the issue of its tactics in Parliament, describing how RVA exploits that fact that many small businesses don't know how easy it is to apply for rates relief, trapping them in contracts that mean RVA will pocket around half the relief in fees.
“I think it’s safe to assume there are hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses who have been effectively defrauded in this way,” he said.
In a separate case, a music shop is using crowdfunding to raise money to fight RVA.
"I have already paid them tens of thousands of pounds and they still want more," says Tom Walter of Hampstead Pianos in north London.
“They have now served me with a Letter Before Action for a further £3,000. They will want more next year.
"In these hard times when every small business is suffering from the effects of COVID-19, if they are successful in their claim I could lose everything I have worked so hard to achieve.
"I am fighting for my financial life and for my future."
His lawyer is Elliot Hammer, who has previously won cases against RVA Surveyors, as I've covered here and here.
The Hampstead Pianos crowdjustice.com page is here.
investigate@mirror.co.uk
