Water boss flushes out business rate ‘bullies’

More news on business rates scammers RVA Surveyors. This lot charges commission of 45% of any rates reduction it achieves for clients, but dozens of companies say they are being unfairly billed.

Among them are Osiris Water Management and sister firm EMH Electrical and Building Services Limited, which were sued by RVA after refusing to pay two invoices coming to more than £3,000.

A judge chucked out RVA’s claim last week, ruling that the signatures on the contracts had been forged.

RVA insisted that they were signed by Brenda Roser, office manager for both firms, and owed commission until 2022.

Miss Roser told the county court in Horsham, West Sussex, that she had never seen the contracts, the handwriting was not hers, she did not have the authority to sign them, and even her supposed job title was incorrect.

“I would never have described myself as finance director – we do not have a finance director,” she said.

She explained that a rep from RVA called Claire Devereaux had made a brief visit to collect two letters of authority giving RVA permission to approach the council about the firms’ business rates, but no contract was discussed.

“She never sat down, never wrote anything in front of me,” Miss Roser said.

After refusing to pay, Miss Roser said RVA then “turned very nasty” with “lots of really nasty phone calls, emails, quite bullying.”

Deputy District Judge Brett described Miss Roser as “very straightforward” and said RVA had provided no evidence to contradict her account.

“In the absence of any other evidence I accept what she says that she did not sign the contracts,” he ruled.

“It leads therefore to a finding that somebody has forged those two documents, whether Miss Devereaux or someone else I do not know, but someone it seems has forged those two documents. This is the only conclusion one can draw from the finding I make.”

The judge also asked RVA legal representative Hussein Ali how his client justified the 45% commission that it was claiming for the financial year 2016-17, since Osiris Water and EMH Electrical automatically qualified for 100% small business rates relief. “The local authority would have sent out a zero rating, they would not have needed any input from you,” he said.

The RVA sales rep was not in court to explain the forged contract signatures, nor was sole director 53-year-old Stephan Hughes of Hale, Cheshire.