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Property investor tells how he was 'deceived' by Savills
Mira Bar-Hillel18 May 2009
A property investor who is suing a leading estate agency over the sale of his seven-bedroom country home spoke today of how he was deceived'.
Barry McKay's action against Savills has led to the agents formally admitting “deceit in respect of false representations” and “breach of duty” after Mr McKay agreed to sell his Berkshire estate, Tresanton House, with the agency.
Savills has refunded the £50,000 fees McKay paid it, and sacked the man who was responsible for the deceit.
Mr McKay said Savills lied to him when it said that it was not representing his former neighbour, John Morris, a multi-millionaire who is redeveloping another country estate next door.
McKay told the Standard: “Michael Ball of Savills approached me out of the blue asking to sell the house I was letting at the time. I specifically asked whether Morris was the buyer and Ball denied it”.
Mr McKay says he was approached by Mr Ball in December 2006. By mid-January, he agreed to sell his house to a man Mr Ball described as a “wealthy investor” for £2.9 million.
He said: “Ball called me and asked me to instruct Savills to market Tresanton.
“I asked Ball if his request was in any way connected with Charters or John Morris who Savills acted as sales agents for. Ball told me it was absolutely nothing to do with either.
“Had I known that Morris was the buyer I would have obtained separate professional advice and a development appraisal. I would then have discovered the true value of my site to Morris and driven a hard bargain”.
He issued court proceedings against Savills in January and now feels vindicated.
Savills, which was founded in 1855 and has branches worldwide, has admitted that Ball “disguised the involvement” of Morris, and deceived McKay into selling it to him.
In court papers, the company admits: “Mr Ball knew that Mr Morris had an interest in the purchase of Tresanton, which conflicted with the interests of the Claimant.
Mr McKay, 54, worked in the music industry before himself becoming a property investor.
He told the Standard: “I'm appalled by Savills behaviour. I was very careful accepting their offer and expected a Rolls Royce service for the massive fee - not deception followed by attempted cover-up.”
A Savills spokesman said: “Whilst we hope that this matter can be resolved without the need for a court hearing, we cannot comment on details as the matter is still the subject of legal proceedings.”
Sunningdale has a reputation as a “millionaires' playground”. John Morris had previously bought Charters, a 1930s Art Deco house, which was once a bolt-hole for Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, and was redeveloping it.
Earlier this month John Morris's Charters development, where Sir Cliff Richard bought one of 34 flats for £2.5 million a year ago, went into administration after the Royal Bank of Scotland called in its loan.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers is running the scheme and has taken the remaining 19 unsold flats off the market for now.
Reader views (4)
Best laugh today
- Mike, London England, 18/05/2009 16:15
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Good lord a property investor being conned by an Estate Agent that must be a first!
Quite funny in my view
- Mike, London England, 18/05/2009 15:17
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Shocking behaviour, I've always had the greatest respect for Estate Agents and would never have credited them as capable of deceit.
- Bob, Cheam, 18/05/2009 12:17
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A dishonest estate agent; who would have thought that!
- Mark, South-East London, 18/05/2009 08:56
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