Estate agency ‘not eligible’ for Coronavirus grant after making common administrative error
Inverness-based Remax franchisee Tony Lister has enlisted the help of his local MSP after he was told the 'desperately needed' cash is not forthcoming.
The bureaucracy faced by estate agency firms when applying for Coronavirus-linked funding in the UK to keep their businesses afloat has been highlighted by an agent in Scotland.
Tony Lister, who runs a Remax franchised agency operating in and around Inverness, says his business is due an emergency £10,000 grant from the Scottish government.
But the agent has been told by Highland Council that he is ineligible for the Coronavirus Business Support fund grant after failing to tell officials that he had moved address in October to a new office within a business park.
Lister, who had held a Remax estate agency franchise since 2016, has been told by council officers that the grant, which is being paid to enterprises in receipt of small business rates relief on or after March 17th, only applies to firms that have been accurately registered with the council.
He has enlisted the help of his local MSP David Stewart who has in turn written to the Highland Council, highlighting how Tony Lister is not the only business being refused a grant on these technical grounds.
“When I moved into this premises I paid to have the lease registered and I thought that meant it was being registered with Highland Council,” Lister told local media.
“But it wasn’t and I’ve just found that out now. I’m contesting this and I’ve put my application for the grant in to the council. I have to do everything I can to save my business but without the grant, things are looking desperate.”