Grant Bovey, who once claimed his company Imagine Homes was Britain’s largest buy to let business, has lost control of the company.
The Daily Mail reported recently that the 47 year old, who is the husband of television celebrity Anthea Turner, has had to let HBOS take over the business. Bovey no longer has a financial stake.
He is now a consultant for Imagine Homes UK which looks after the selling and marketing of properties.
It was reported that Bovey’s property empire had been hit by the credit crunch and that he was forced to let the business go for strategic reasons.
Just six months ago, Bovey was quoted as saying: “I will sue anyone who says that Imagine Homes is in financial difficulty.” The warning followed media speculation that he and Ms Turner, 48, cancelled their annual summer charity ball because the business was struggling financially.
The Imagine Homes business model was to buy properties from developers and then sell them on to investors with guaranteed rental income. The company charged a management fee of 10 percent of the rent for a period of two years.
The business is said to have generated a turnover of £53m in its financial year that ended in 2007, but records show it still made a loss of £6,429,926.
The recent fall in house prices is believed to be behind the decision by Bovey to let HBOS take over the business.
• KPMG has been called in to act as administrator at a company where a residential landlord took out 27 mortgages in eight months.
James Nicholson, aged 26, started Nicholson Properties (Carlisle) Ltd three years ago and bought up houses and flats in the Carlisle and Penrith area through borrowing with the Dunfermline Building Society.
The administrators were called in by a creditor owed money by Nicholson Properties but Mr Nicholson says the move does not affect six other companies where he is a director which are also believed to be all property related.
These companies are Nicholson Properties (Property Management) Cumbria Ltd, King Street (Property Management) Penrith Ltd, JJC (Property Management) Carlisle Ltd, Mardale Road Management Ltd and Castle Court (Property Management) Penrith Ltd.
Several of Nicholson’s tenants are Polish who live in shared accommodation but when some were contacted by the local media they claimed they knew nothing of their landlord’s problems.
Nicholson currently still manages the properties through Nicholson Properties (Property Management) Ltd. He was quoted a saying that the tenants will not be evicted, even though the properties are no longer his.
