Carlisle landlord who bought 27 homes in eight months has them seized
Last updated 12:17, Wednesday, 24 September 2008
A Carlisle landlord who racked up 27 mortgages in eight months has had his properties seized.
James Nicholson’s spree was made up of houses and flats spread across Carlisle and Penrith.
They were bought by the 26-year-old’s company Nicholson Properties (Carlisle) Ltd and all mortgages were with Dunfermline Building Society.
Mr Nicholson is still the director of another six Cumbrian companies which are dependent on property.
Deals for 10 of the 27 properties were registered with Companies House during one day in February this year.
On Monday it was announced the business, which started in 2005, had gone into administration.
A spokesman for administrators KPMG said they had been called in at the request of one of the firm’s creditors.
When approached by the News and Star, Mr Nicholson would not discuss his financial affairs.
He blamed the “downturn” in the market for the collapse of Nicholson Properties Carlisle but said the other firms are not at risk.
Nicholson Properties Carlisle rented out the buildings it bought.
Many have been converted into separate rooms for shared accommodation.
Several were found to be empty yesterday, but in one that was occupied on Warwick Road there were six Polish tenants.
Each paid between £55 and £85 per week rent, in cash.
At another on Abbey Street there are 11 Polish tenants paying £45 a week each, again in cash.
The tenants knew nothing of their landlord’s problems.
They paid last week’s rent to their usual collector.
According to Mr Nicholson the tenants will not be evicted. Even though the properties are no longer his, they are still managed by one of his other companies – Nicholson Properties (Property Management) Ltd.
The most recent Companies House records show in March 2007 this firm reported a deficit of £56,241 for the previous financial year.
Three months later, all of the business’s assets were mortgaged against the money it owes to Commercial First Business Ltd.
The other companies Mr Nicholson is a director of 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.
One was launched in 2004, another in 2006 and the other three in February 2007.
It is not known how many houses or flats he owns.
Six of the homes reclaimed from Nicholson Properties Carlisle were on Castle Court.
A spokesman said Nicholson Properties Carlisle had no employees and the long term aim was to sell the buildings to buyers who wanted to continue renting them out.
Dunfermline Building Society declined to comment.
SJohnson@cngroup.co.uk
