Manchester surveyor wound up after misleading clients

Manchester-based surveyor Ellis and Co Surveyors is to be placed into liquidation after misleading clients over launching business rates appeals. The surveyor was wound up in the public interest yesterday at the High Court in Manchester, with Official Receiver appointed as liquidator. Ellis and Co Surveyors began cold calling businesses in an attempt to sign them up to long-term contracts with the company to manage their business rates. The surveyor said it would secure reductions in the rateable value of the business if companies signed up to their services. However, Insolvency Service investigators uncovered that the company made exaggerated claims to prospective clients about the likelihood of a successful appeal on their business rates, as well as the amount that would be saved. The company’s success rate was 15%, lower than what clients were told. Between 2014 and 2018, Ellis and Co Surveyors turned over £2.6m “using methods that exploited their clients”, according to a statement released by the Insolvency Service. Clients who signed up to Ellis and Co Surveyors said the company was difficult to engage with, made limited progress on their case, and were “rude, threatening and unprofessional”, the statement said. Joanne Boslem had been “running the company behind the scenes”, wanting to hide her activities because she had been a principal shareholder in two similar companies – David Scott Surveyors Ltd and C & R Surveyors Ltd – which at the time of Ellis and Co Surveyors’ incorporation were being wound up in the courts for similar trading activities. Scott Crighton, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Companies are responsible for providing correct information to their clients and should not over-promise services they cannot guarantee. But this is exactly what Ellis and Co Surveyors did when it told prospective clients that it could reduce their business rates. “Our investigations proved that Ellis and Co Surveyors Ltd misled their clients and the court agreed in granting the application. By winding up Ellis and Co Surveyors Ltd, the Insolvency Service have put a stop to the company’s activities, preventing further harm.” To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette