FLVA defends decision over fees

It says it has uncovered evidence of licensees joining the FLVA when rent reviews are due and “disappearing into the woodwork” as soon as they receive a favourable settlement.

New members will be asked to pay a premium charge of £200-£500 if they are involved in major issues with their pubco or landlord brewer in the early stages of their membership.

“We have found that some new members are coming to us because they have heard of the benefits we offer. They pay a one-year fee of £150 when a rent review is due, but we don’t see them again after successful negotiations are concluded,” said operations director Martin Caffrey.

“It’s a move purely to combat carpet-bagging licensees who decide to join us simply because a rent review or some other major issue is on the horizon.”

A recent rent-review case saw the association successfully representing a member whose landlord wanted to increase his passing rent from £25,470 to £29,000. The rent was eventually settled at £18,000, saving £55,000 over the next five years.

“The licensee — a member of the FLVA for many years — paid nothing extra for our work which came out of his annual fee,” Caffrey said.

“Some of these rental negotiations and other disputes can take six months or so and involve a tremendous amount of work by us. We are not going to give our services away for next
to nothing.”