Three more arrested in North East Property Buyers probe

Sep 30 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

It is alleged that the 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 – understood to be 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 – were arrested in June.

And three women and one man, who all worked for the company at managerial level, were arrested in County Durham, on Monday. All have been questioned and released on bail.

Hundreds of families across the North East and beyond have already become victims of the North East Property Buyers Scandal.