Anybody else had something similar??

My small building company had a bit of a cash flow problem so we decided to sell some land. We had a site on the market with local estate agents for £750K, 9 years ago. Barclays insisted, and I mean INSISTED, we place it with a company in Leeds.

They were reluctantly employed by us as estate agents in June 2007. By July 2008 they hadn't even placed a 'for sale' board outside or advertised the land in any way, despite angry calls from me. 13 months of doing absolutely nothing, and in which time, our debt to Barclays had increased by over £75K.

Due to no interest in the land, not surprisingly as it wasn't advertised, Barclays called in the debt and appointed the very same man from the very same company as Receiver.

After lots of arguing and highlighting this guys dodgy dealings, the Receiver resigned his position and we were given control, not ownership, but control of our land back.

It has cost our family approx £1.3M as a whole, and although I keep complaining, Barclays insist they have done nothing wrong.

How do i get the truth??

Constructive Liquidation I have called it.

Anybody experienced anything similar??

You are in a very difficult position – but it sounds like a very believable story.

Not a million miles away from the RBS scandal whereby they eventually bankrupted businesses and thence sold the assets.

The problem for you is that Barclays would be extremely secretive about it and also the value of the problem stops you from taking any legal action without huge risks.

I would certainly start off by sending an SAR and seeing what kind of information you get. They may start bleating on that they don't have data further back than six years that that would be a lie. They use archiving services just like the other banks and they have data going back a long way.

Of course an SAR refers only to personal data and so they may try to avoid making incriminating disclosures by simply saying that the data they are giving you relates to you personally and has nothing to do with the business. Still it's worth trying – apart from anything else it would be interesting to find out not only what is in your file but also what is not in the fire. If you work through it carefully you might find references to other stuff which happens to be missing.

I suppose that you are unlikely to find anything. I think that I would start canvassing around the Internet to see how many other people have got similar experiences. I'm sure that you wouldn't be the only one. What is the name of the estate agents please?

Also, I think I would start making attempts to contact the victims of the RBS scandal. You will find someone here and you may find some of Facebook. Start exchanging notes with them and seeing what ideas they can give you. They've been down the same road as you – no point in duplicating efforts.

Presumably you have brought the matter to the attention of the FOS?

Thanks for the reply.

First time using something like this so not 100% sure how I go about searching for the RBS people.

When I say estate agents, they were supposed to be employed as that, but the company was an LLP one, GVA Grimley in Leeds. The main guy never even opened our file in the first 8 months. Had to walk out of a meeting at my house one day because i was going to hit him. When i got back he had left, and given my Mother £80 because he 'felt sorry I had lost my income'

The stress between our family took its toll on my Mother and she died within a year.

Like you say, they won't show me any correspondence, and if they do, it will only be what they want us to see.

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by an SAR?

Hi Angry and welcome to CAG

1. Do you or your company still own the property ?

2. Was it a Ltd Company, or what ?

3. Have you any idea why this particular receiver/property agent was appointed ?

4. Depending on your answers, it may also be worth sending a SAR to the receiver/property agent.

slick132. Thanks for your reply.

The land in question was owned by my Mother, who as mentioned, passed away not long after this started, and in her will she left it to Myself and my 2 Brothers. we haven't executed this yet as Barclays still hold the deeds and we were unsure of what would happen regarding the debt being transferred into our names should we do it.

The company was a Ltd company.

I have no idea why GVA were appointed, but to me, it all seemed engineered, as if both parties knew what and what not to do, and for how long.

Either Barclays instructed GVA to sit on it, do nothing until a predetermined length of time has passed so Barclays could then call the debt in and appoint the same bloke as Receiver, or the Receiver sat on it and waffled his way through the delays knowing the debt would be called in and he would be appointed Receiver and so increase his potential fees.

One of those two scenarios happened but how do I find out?

Hi Angry,

I've added para spacing to your posts - it makes them far easier to read and find the details we need.

If you clink on the actual SAR auto-link, it'll take you to the SAR thread. It's short for Subject Access Request, a formal means of acquiring details of the data a company holds about you.

1. You say you've been complaining to the bank. Was this by phone, in person or in writing ?

2. Is the building Ltd Co now in receivership.

3. How exactly did the bank have control over the land.

4. Did the bank have a charge on the land.

5. Was there a formal loan by the bank to the Ltd Co; or an authorised or unauthorised overdraft.

Hi, the Ltd company is now wound up completely. Was over 8 years ago. The bank had a charge over this acre of building land owned by my Mother.

All my complaints have been in writing apart from the very first one.

Will a SAR be beneficial in ant way or do you think it will bear no fruit?

The SAR is a very useful tool for getting personal data but will not assist in getting any data for a Ltd Co.

However, I wonder what use it may be to you NOW, given the amount of time that's passed.

What's the status of the land now - did the bank or receiver take it to set against debt.

The chance of you taking this anywhere now depends on the timescale involved. Also, as BF said above, the amounts involved mean that taking court action would be costly and you'd be exposed to huge legal costs that the bank incurs.

It may well be that there was collusion at some level between bank staff and staff at the LLP you mentioned.But we (at CAG) have to be very cautious about making, or allowing any site user to make, any specific allegations.