Margate litigation Partner, Matt Champ, has recently resolved a case where his clients were allegedly deceived into entering a bridging loan agreement to carry out works on their house in the sum of £350k. In addition to repaying the sum, there was also a crippling level of interest and charges that would be applied monthly if repayment was not made in full within a matter of months, not to mention the lender’s option to possess the property upon default.

It was alleged that there was a conspiracy between a financial adviser, solicitor and finance company so as to entice the clients to enter into such an onerous agreement. In this case, Matt’s clients were faced with losing their home and, so it seemed to them, they were rescued at the last minute with the financial adviser assuring Matt’s clients that he would obtain a more normal mortgage from his many contacts on the high street in time to clear the onerous bridging loan. However, such a mortgage never appeared and the clients were left with a crippling agreement that risked taking everything from them and leaving them with significant debts after.

The litigation started in the High Court and thereafter the lender was seeking in excess of £850k including various exit fees, costs and interest to release their charge on Matt’s clients’ property.

Matt was instrumental in defending these proceedings on the basis of a fraudulent conspiracy, sham mortgage and various breaches of consumer legislation. However, even then, the lender would not provide a redemption statement to the client so that alternative finance could be obtained, clearly hoping that they could repossess the property and sell it at a higher price.

Matt attended before the courts on numerous occasions and, by persuading the judges himself, prevented the lender from obtaining possession of the property, compelled them to produce such a redemption statement and successfully challenged the interest, costs and penalties being sought with the court, even demanding the lender produce a calculation to define the sums sought.

Under the growing pressure and judicial scrutiny that the lender was facing from Matt’s handling of the case, the lender decided to settle the dispute for £350k and thus Matt saved his clients over £500k and allowed them to keep their family home.

What the clients say:

"Matt has been exceptional throughout, we can now breathe a loud sigh of relief. Matt, is a credit to Boys & Maughan Solicitors, and we owe him our greatest debt of gratitude. He certainly has a special place in our hearts and we are grateful for the day that he came into our lives. We still cannot believe the result that he got for us."

What Matt says:

"Fraud is one of those words that causes some lawyers to shudder. Thankfully I am not one of those lawyers. The threshold to prove fraud is, quite rightly, very high. But, in the right cases, it is vital that clients know that there is someone out there who will hold these people to account regardless of the professional risk to themselves.

"Genuinely delighted to have helped these clients, I wish them all the best for the future."