Vincent Tchenguiz could lose a fifth of his freehold portfolio after failing to agree repayment terms on a £230 million debt with Lloyds Bank.
The taxpayer-owned bank sought court approval on Thursday to appoint KPMG as administrators over more than 50,000 residential freeholds.
It is not known which portfolios these may be. It is possible that these are the entire retirement leasehold freeholds which Tchenguiz acquired from McCarthy and Stone. These amount to the freeholds of 53,000 retirement flats.
If so, the implications for those in retirement sites where the freeholder is a Tchenguiz company – Fairhold, Proxima, Retirement Care, Estates and Management among many others – could be wide-ranging.
It would open up the possibility of a number of different companies purchasing the retirement freeholds, who may not chose to continue with Peverel as the managing agents.
Court papers show that Lloyds claims Tchenguiz has failed repeatedly to make interest payments since 2009. He has also failed to sell the entire freehold portfolio, which Tchenguiz priced at £3 billion.
On Thursday Tchenguiz’s lawyers argued that the botched Serious Fraud Office investigation – which resulted in the arrest of Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz in March 2011 – had compromised efforts to refinance the freehold portfolio.
The freeholds were used as collateral for the £100 million Pennyrock loan provided by the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, which was central to the SFO investigation.
According to the FT, which claims to have seen Tchenguiz’s court filings, his defence against calling in the administrators concerns conversations that took place between Lloyds Banks and accountants Grant Thornton, who were the receivers for Kaupthing and who wrongly alerted the SFO which resulted in the Tchenguiz arrests.
The hearing has been set for July 8.
I would not wish to prejudge what may happen in court. Suffice it to say other lenders will not be backward in coming forward to secure their positions.
In the meantime it is our duty (make that pleasure) to keep the pressure on Tchenguiz and Peverel.
It is time to show the whole rotten Tchenguiz and Peverel empire, especially Ian Rapley just what the “Dribbling Geriatrics” can do.
Yes, this is good news, and if Lloyds rid the leaseholders in the retirement sector of Tchenguiz/Proxima and Peverel Management Services Ltd they will have done us all a great service.
At this development we have battled for years with PMSL about extremely high service charges in return for an inadequate drainage system in the underground car park (known about while building was constructed) that causes regular flooding, substandard general maintenance of the garden and security. The NHBC repeatedly refuse to give me a copy (a cover-up?) of a final inspection report covering the drainage system: “The final stage No.8. Completion and drain test (pre-decoration – warranty only)” copied from their website. The NHBC visited the car park in April 2013 and we are still waiting for their decision on a claim that was first submitted in 2010.
On the issue of security one night last week while in the living room just before going to bed I spotted a light like a camera flashing in the garden outside my flat. As soon as I realised someone was out there I switched the light off so I could not be seen. It was very scary but I walked over to the French doors to check they were locked and saw a very tall figure dressed in black standing to the left against the wall. I immediately called the emergency Careline to report it that in turn called the police. A policeman knocked on my door and I invited him in to explain what happened. He said: “That was me outside with a torch”. I asked how he got in and he replied: “It’s easy I just climbed over a fence”. It transpired the whole area was swarming with police including a dog searching for a yob that had committed some offence. He was caught in a lane next to this property. The failings of Peverel were these: (1) The security light on the wall above my flat was not working (hence the need for a torch). (2) The police were able to enter the garden without permission because of a garden rubbish container placed next to a fence enabling anyone to climb over. It has taken me a couple of days to get over that incident. The area manager was on holiday while all this was going on. The residents have asked for a meeting as soon as he returns to answer questions on this and other matters.
I have to say the current HM is the first one we have had who is competent and takes a keen interest in the running of the building and the residents. T has shown common sense by hiring new gardeners and she clearly wants to start afresh, but as long as a former incompetent HM (a staunch Peverel sympathiser/supporter) is allowed to continue working (and gossiping) as a cleaner for some residents living here, it will make her endeavours very difficult. His presence has a continuing divisive influence among residents and he should not be allowed to stay working here as cleaner. He saw a gap in the market as a result of a corrupt managing agent that drew up a secret second HM Job Description omitting the ‘Lifestyle Options’ service that the residents were mis-sold by the developer. HMs were supposed to ORGANISE cleaning services for residents – not do the job themselves…