DS7 expects response from investors by end of next week over Olicana House, in Little Germany

Former council office Olicana House, in Little Germany, was one of three Bradford buildings being turned into flats by Liverpool-based Absolute Living Developments (ALD).

But the firm was placed in compulsory liquidation earlier this year, leaving foreign buy-to-let investors with lost deposits worth millions of pounds and sparking an international investigation.

Possession of the part-finished building has since passed to Manchester-based investment firm DS7, which had been a secured investor in the scheme.

RELATED STORIES

DS7 had approached those buy-to-let investors with unfinished flats - many of whom live in Hong Kong - with a proposal to resurrect the scheme, saying their deposits would be honoured. Many buyers were reluctant to agree to the plan, as it asked them to help fund outstanding work by committing more money before the flats were finished. Now DS7 has gone back with a revised plan, in which it would pay for all the remaining construction work instead, with the investors only expected to pay the balance on their flats at completion.

DS7’s director, Charlie Cunningham, said it hoped to get a response from investors by the end of next week and work could resume within months.

He said: “We are aiming for this year. If not, early 2017. It is really dependent on the investors and if we can get the legal process under way.”

DS7 has also now been granted planning permission to add 19 more flats, which Mr Cunningham said made the scheme “viable” for them. But investors have said they are still reluctant to sign new contracts with DS7.

One investor, who wanted to be named only as Mrs Wong, said she and others did not want to enter into a contract with DS7 while the investigation into ALD’s collapse and liquidation of its assets was still under way.

She acknowledged “the proposal sounds better than the previous one offered”, but she and others had decided not to respond to it.

MORE TOP STORIES