Four more arrested in North East Property Buyers investigation

Sep 29 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

FOUR more people have been arrested in connection with an alleged property scam, which could result in hundreds of families losing their homes.

Detectives investigating the dealings of North East Property Buyers are now focusing on the managers responsible for the day-to-day running of the company, which is at the centre of a major fraud probe.

Three women and one man were arrested at their homes in County Durham. The 50-year-old man from Chester-le- Street, 60-year-old woman, from Ferryhill, and two women, aged 39 and 46, also from Chester-le-Street, were questioned and released on bail.

They were all employed by North East Property Buyers at a managerial level. And detectives are planning on making more arrests today as they close in on all those involved in running the company.

Police began probing the dealings of North East Property Buyers and Newcastle Home Loans earlier this year after being alerted by the Financial Service Authority.

It is alleged that the two firms, which offer people suffering from financial difficulties the chance to stay in their own homes by buying the properties and then renting them back to their former owners, defaulted on mortgages secured on the properties.

And many of the tenants living in some of the 2,000 homes in the companies’ portfolio have already been evicted after mortgage lenders repossessed homes in an attempt to claw back the money they are allegedly owed.

Five people, who The Journal understands to include Grace and David Purdie, of Darras Hall, Northumberland, who are each a director of one of the companies, and Grace Purdie’s business partner, Michael Foster, of Houghton-le-Spring, have already been arrested.