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Devon Block Management update: papers filed at Companies House reveal creditors are owed more than £2million

New papers filed at Companies House reveal more about Devon Block Management

By News Editor Andy Towcester

Documents filed at Companies House last night confirm a controversial property management company in Plymouth has more than £1million of debts and is in the hands of a voluntary liquidator.

Hundreds of residents in multiple residential blocks in Plymouth are listed as being out of pocket from the collapse of Devon Block Management, which has two directors, Sean and Elaine Nicholson. The pair say they put £800,000 of their own money into DBM as they tried to keep it trading - the sum is included in the list of creditors.

Other creditors of DBM listed in the Companies House filings include several waterside residental blocks or properties, among them:

The Azure apartments, in Cliff Road, Plymouth: owed £450,000
Properties in Grand Parade: owed £17,000
Properties in Lockyer Street: owed £21,000

Residents and their representatives at properties in Devonport and Stoke in Plymouth, as well as in Okehampton, Exeter, Dartmouth, and Newquay, are also owed money. In addition, HMRC is owed more than £60,000 and trades people who did work for DBM, including roofers, joiners and cleaners are owed more than £100,000.

The liquidators are Michael Leeds and Ailar King, at Interpath Limited, c/o 10 Fleet Place London EC4M 7RB. The statement of affairs filed at Companies House was signed by DBM director Elaine Nicholson on May 1. Her statement of truth says: "I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth."

In the course of our investigations, The Beagle has repeatedly offered DBM the chance to comment. It has ignored our calls and emails.

Last month it emerged that Devon Block Management had instructed insolvency practitioners Marshall Peters to organise a Company Voluntary Liquidation (CVL).