Mark Black

I have updated the blog entry with responses to some of the questions raised with Mark Black below.

Mark Black has refused to answer any further questions until such a time as all mention of him is removed from the blog, which is something that the Editor is quite prepared to do once once answers to basic questions have been provided that indicate he is no longer a person of interest. Mark Black's approach differs markedly with that of Abode Lettings & Property Management which was also part of the "INVESTOR ALERT - avoid these characters" blog article, but whose directors, Justin Turner & Nasser Moffat, answered all questions posed and had themselves removed.

There are some very important questions that Mark Black has refused to answer. The claim he has made is that the Collins & Bone Partnership were paid for rental of all their properties whilst they were managed by Novocastria Lettings, a direct contradiction to a statement made by Liam Collins. So, clearly, someone is lying. The matter will now be turned over to the Official Receiver.

The Editor



[ewart, 27/8/2012]: What was the relationship between Novocastria Lettings & Novocastria Developments Ltd.? There were bi-directional linkages between your respective web-sites.

[Mark Black, 30/8/2012]: Novocastria Lettings was simply a brand name to manage the two sets of properties under. I managed the C&G houses whilst Rachael Bone, with Davey's input, managed the Collins Bone houses. It served no-one any purpose to have either set of houses sitting empty.

Novocastria Developments Ltd was a company set up for the Lyons Fund, and when that collapsed it was left dormant. Novocastria developments never traded. I tried to pursue the C&G model under the Novocastria Developments branding briefly but you, Sally and Jasmine were quick to claim all manner of nonsense about it so I discontinued that effort. For the record - it had nothing to do with Liam or Davey; but again you never bothered to call and just jumped to an incorrect conclusion.

Given that the C&G properties had to be managed, and I wanted to do what I could to help the C&G investors, it was convenient to use the branding work that had been done for Novocastria rather than waste time re-doing it. I didn't want to leave any C&G investor with an unmanaged property so it was a vehicle to meet those obligations. As there was little point in incurring two sets of fees the same feeds to Rightmove etc were used to market Collins Bone properties. Rachael dealt with all C&B houses.

[ewart, 27/8/2012]: The set of C&B owned properties are listed in the "COLLINS & BONE HOUSES AND NOVOCASTRIA LETTINGS" article posted 22nd February 2012. For each of these properties, during what time periods did Novocastria Lettings/Novocastria Developments Ltd manage these properties, and for what time periods were these properties actually rented out?

[Mark Black, 30/8/2012]: As above. Novocastria was simply a marketing vehicle. Effectively the Collins Bone portfolio was run by Rachael and Davey. I didn't handle any of it so don't have data on it.

[ewart, 27/8/2012]: Novocastria Lettings charged a management fee for properties that it successfully let to cover advertising & maintenance costs, and this came out of the rental monies collected - the rest of the monies went to the landlords ... at least that is what should have happened. Why did this not happen for C&B owned properties?

[Mark Black, 30/8/2012]: As above. Novocastria didn't charge C&B as such. Novocastria didn't make any money from the C&B portfolio as it was handled separately.

[ewart, 27/8/2012]: If Novocastria Lettings/Novocastria Developments Ltd did indeed make payments to C&B/the partners,:

• When were these payments made?
• From what bank account were the payments made?
• What were the payments for?
• How were they tagged/labelled on bank statements?
• How were the payments made? If transferred directly Into bank account(s), what are the details for each account?

[Mark Black, 30/8/2012]: Money from Collins Bone was Liam and Davey's business. Any money coming into Novocastria was handled by Rachael and went immediately to CollinsBone. Beyond that I can't say as it wasn't much to do with the C&G houses. Equally, Liam and Davey wouldn't be able to comment much on the management of old C&G houses as it didn't concern them.

I don't have an awful amount of time to spend on this unfortunately - certainly not for someone who takes blind pops at me online. Hope this helps.

[ewart, 30/8/2012]: If Novocastria Lettings is not part of Novocastria Developments Ltd., who is responsible for filing the tax returns for business done under the Novocastria Lettings umbrella? Is it:

        a) you/Dave Bone Snr, for C&G investor owned properties?
        b) David Bone Jnr & Rachael Bone for C&B owned properties?

If the answers to a) & b) above are both yes, then what you are inferring is that the written statement made by Liam Collins to me on 23/2/2012 wrt C&B never receiving any monies from Novocastria was incorrect.

        Question unanswered

[ewart, 30/8/2012]: Against ,what business entities or persons are rental monies from a) & b) above (to be) filed?

         Question unanswered

[ewart, 30/8/2012]: Were rental monies, as well as rental deposits, collected from C&B owned and C&G investor owned properties kept separate at all times?

         Question unanswered

[ewart, 30/8/2012]: What is an operational e-mail address and phone # through which Rachael Bone/Davey can be contacted?

         Question unanswered

[ewart, 30/8/2012]: David Bone Snr was a fellow director at Novocastria Development Ltd, and resigned 17/4/2012. Presumably both you and he were responsible for C&G investor owned properties, and never had any dealing with C&B owned properties, is that correct? If so, how do you explain David Bone Snr having a role in the management of 2 Dronfield
Rd. (see article http://collins-bone-investors.blogspot.ca/search?updated-max=2012-05-08T14:05:00%2B01:00&max-results=10&start=10&by-date=false) which is C&B owned?

         Question unanswered

 

 

From: The Editor
Date: Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 9:22 AM
Subject: e-mail to Mark Black
To: Mark Black via Adavo Property web-site e-mail portal

Mr. Black,

In response to the IFS blog's "ANOTHER COBOCO MORPH" article (13th August 2012), you wrote in and made the following comments:

"You, like anyone else, have been at your liberty to contact me at any point in the last few years and haven't. Why you haven't contacted me directly remains a mystery;"

.
.

"Please leave me to support my family and stop these hurtful and ill informed posts or alternatively pick up the phone and call."

On 23rd February 2012 I sent an e-mail, copy below, to all of Rachael Bone, Liam Collins, David Bone Jnr, and also submitted through the e-mail portals on the Novocastria Lettings and Novocastria Developments Ltd respective web-sites. There was no reply from any of you! The e-mail was triggered by:

• An e-mail from Liam Collins the same day in which he states:

"I get nothing at all from them (Novocastria Lettings) ever as they are running at a loss most months.".

• A phone call I had with Rachael Bone earlier on the same day in which she refused to answer even the most basic questions such as:

• What is your role at Novocastria Lettings?
• What is the relationship between Novocastria Lettings & Novocastria Developments?
• Why is Novocastria Lettings not paying any monies for C&B owned properties that it lets? This includes 36 Langhorn Close, which was the business address used by Novovastria Lettings.

Novocastria Lettings was one of a number of lettings agencies that managed Collins & Bone Partnership (C&B) owned properties. The following questions need to be answered, and given that you are a director of Novovastria Developments Ltd, coupled with the statements you posted on the IFS blog, you should have no objections to answering them, or referring me to someone who will:

• What was the relationship between Novocastria Lettings & Novocastria Developments Ltd.? There were bi-directional linkages between your respective web-sites.
• The set of C&B owned properties are listed in the "COLLINS & BONE HOUSES AND NOVOCASTRIA LETTINGS" article posted 22nd February 2012. For each of these properties, during what time periods did Novocastria Lettings/Novocastria Developments Ltd manage these properties, and for what time periods were these properties actually rented out?
• Novocastria Lettings charged a management fee for properties that it successfully let to cover advertising & maintenance costs, and this came out of the rental monies collected - the rest of the monies went to the landlords ... at least that is what should have happened. Why did this not happen for C&B owned properties?
• If Novocastria Lettings/Novocastria Developments Ltd did indeed make payments to C&B/the partners,:

• When were these payments made?
• From what bank account were the payments made?
• What were the payments for?
• How were they tagged/labelled on bank statements?
• How were the payments made? If transferred directly Into bank account(s), what are the details for each account?

Ewart


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ewart tempest <ewart.tempest@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 7:27 AM
Subject: Novocastria Lettings questions
To: davidbone@castleandgatehouse.co.uk, Rachael <rachael@collinsandbone.com>, Rachael Bone <rachaelbone@castleandgatehouse.com>
Cc: ewart tempest <ewart.tempest@gmail.com>, Liam Collins <liam@collinsandbone.com>


David,

I phoned Novocastria Lettings this morning and got Rachael on the line - she referred me to you for all questions, not even preparing to answer what kind of a company Novocastria Lettings was (Ltd, LLP, partnership, let alone who the directors/partners are). The following questions need to be answered:

What kind of a company is Novocastria Lettings (Ltd, LLP, partnership)?

Answer:

When was Novocastria Lettings founded?

Answer:

When did Novocastria Lettings start managing the rental of C&B assets?

Answer:

What company had responsibility for managing the rental of C&B assets prior to Novocastria Lettings?

Answer:

Why is Novocastria Lettings using the address of one of these C&B assets (36 Langhorn Close, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) as its business address? Does it physically occupy these premises?

Answer:

Where does the money to renovate/manage these C&B assets come from?

Answer:

If the answer to the previous question is (in part) C&B, how much money did C&B pay the company(ies) responsible for managing the rental of C&B assets in each of 2010 and 2011?

Answer:

How much money have the company(ies) responsible for managing the rental of C&B assets paid back to C&B in each of 2010 and 2011?

Answer:

What is the value of the rental income that C&B properties have generated in each of 2010 and 2011?

Answer:

Ewart

Patrick Collins - part I

If readers of this article find anything contradictory in what Patrick Collins has stated given their own experiences working with this individual/Patrick Properties Management Limited, please get in touch with the Editor.

Now that both partners have been made bankrupt, the emphasis has moved to:

• The filing of alleged charges against the partners with Martin Faulkner, the Official Receiver.
• The continued mining and supplying of information to assist the authorities in bringing this fiasco to a conclusion as fast as possible..
• Closely monitoring of the ongoing Official Receiver's investigation.

If you have any information on the partners that may be useful to the Official Receiver's investigation, please send this to Martin Faulkner, or contact myself/the IFS blog if you prefer. And if you feel that you have been wronged in any way by the partners, then you really should be thinking carefully about filing alleged charges with Martin Faulkner if you have not already done so.

In terms of finding out where the monies have gone, an obvious place to start are rental monies. It should also be one of the easier sources of revenue flow to track as the C&B property assets are known. What follows below is information supplied by Patrick Collins of Patrick Properties Management Ltd. - his was one of a number of companies that let C&B owned properties.

Patrick Properties Management Ltd
Company # 7365820
Date of incorporation: 3/9/2010
Petition to wind up: 14/05/2012
Order to wind up: 10/07/2012
Official Receiver:

Gary Owen,
The Official Receiver,
1st Floor,
Melbourne House,
Pandon Babnk,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE1 2JQ

Tel. 0191-260-4600
E-mail: gary.owen@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Patrick Collins confirmed the following with Editor in a sequence of recent e-mail exchanges:

• Patrick Properties supposedly acted as a letting agency for the Collins Bone partnership for a period of a year, from approximately December 2009 to December 2010, although this does not gel with signed assured shorthold tenancy agreements found on the Internet (see later). Rent was always paid to landlords monthly minus the management fees charged. He could not give the details of the properties due to data protection act, but I pointed out to him that the list of properties that the Collins & Bone Partnership own has been made publicly available by the partners, and an earlier copy of these assets posted @ www.collins-and-bone.blogspot.com "C&B assets - negative equity" article. So the addresses of these properties are not an issue for the Data Protection Act - they are well known to all C&B investors. He offered to identify the C&B properties that he managed, but on being presented the list although he confirmed that all the properties had been managed by him at some stage, he could not remember the dates when the various properties were handed over as it was constantly changing.

• The properties were in the hands of LPA Receivers when he took them on. However, there were a number of mortgage lenders involved, and therefore different LPA Receivers, and without delving into his records he could not tell me which properties were in the hands of LPA Receivers when. And given that this would take effort on his part to mine, he would require payment for providing this data. ... the Editor declined the offer. When the properties came out of receivership, this was due to getting arrears paid off and proving to the LPA Receivers that the properties could be properly managed and that mortgages could be paid.

• Asked whether when the C&B owned properties came out of LPA Receivership in April 2010 the properties were profitable, or whether the partners had to inject additional monies to make this happen, Patrick Collins stated:

"When the properties came out of receivership, yes this was due to getting arrears paid off and proving to the receivers that the properties could be properly managed and that mortgages could be paid. As a number of properties were with different mortgage companies, and so different receivers, I am not 100% sure how the whole portfolio was managed in terms of payments. I would deal with each house individually and was never involved with paying the mortgages. This is always the responsibility of the landlord, not the agent. There may have been money injected to contribute, but if so I was not aware of this. I would not agree that the properties were profitable in April 2010. Throughout the whole portfolio, the properties were at the stage where they could just make enough money to cover mortgages. However many of the properties were old in terms of decor and furnishings and boilers etc and so every month there were a lot of maintenance charges. Also there was money spent on the houses in order to make them more habitable to be rented out and so there was never a stage where I would class the houses as profitable. Some houses had low mortgages and high rents, some where empty, and others had high mortgages and low rents and so throughout the portfolio, there was never a stage where I would say that over all there was a profit, but more a case of just getting by each month."

This raises a huge question mark over the solvency of C&B at the end of 2009:

• Liam Collins & David Bone Jnr already had a number of CCJs against them (the appropriate searches have been done).
• Their property assets were in negative equity, and they were behind in their mortgage payments as well.
• Even when the properties came out of LPA Receivership in April 2010, rent collected barely covered the mortgages.

So a question must be raised over the commercial valuation the partners placed on their properties, and how this valuation was derived at, because it was this highly inflated valuation that effectively allowed the partners to continue trading and to solicit additional monies through PNs.



• With regards to deposits, all deposits received from C&B owned property tenants were paid through Patrick Properties and registered with mydeposits.co.uk . Once a tenant moved in, the money was stored in a separate client account held by Patrick Properties, the deposit registered, and the tenant provided a certificate and number. Once Patrick Properties handed over management to Diggs, all deposits were transferred over, or paid back to tenants if they were moving out. According to Patrick Collins, there are no deposits owed to any C&B tenants who rented through Patrick Properties.
• He estimated that during this 1 year period, occupancy rates were at best around 65%, but at times a lot lower.
• During this 1 year period, C&B were struggling to pay the mortgages on their properties.
• After the 1 year period, the properties were passed over to Diggs Lettings, with Loughborough based properties being managed by Rami Hariri. He is not aware if any of C&B's properties were subsequently taken over by Novocastria ... again, this does not gel with signed assured shorthold tenancy agreements found on the Internet (see later).
• The company charged management fees for managing the properties at 8% a month for each property:

"For charges, all agencies charge between 8% to 15% management fees. Anything lower than that is generally too cheap for the amount of work that needs to be done, any anything higher than that, the landlord will not pay. I am not sure what Novocastria charged but it would have been between 8% and 12% and the same for Diggs, but I imagine they would have charged 8%."

The fees cover the costs to collect rent, advertise and rent properties, and to deal with any maintenance on a monthly basis. All remaining monies were payed to the landlords who were responsible for making any mortgage payments. If a property was not let in a given month, the company got nothing.

• He has never had any dealings with Novocastria.

Patrick Collins would not provide the following data:

• Details of debts owed by the company.

• Supply working e-mail addresses for Mark Black, David Bone Snr & Rachael Bone, as these individuals need to be questioned over C&B properties that they managed and rented out yet never paid any rent monies to C&B for. In an e-mail from Liam Collins on February 22nd 2012 he states:

" I get nothing at all from them (Novocastria Lettings) ever as they are running at a loss most months.".

The Editor tried contacting these 3 individuals through their respective Novocastria Lettings & Novocastria Developments Ltd web-portals but never got a response, and even phoned Rachael Bone who refused to even specify her role in Novocastria Lettings, and its relationship to Novocastria Developments Ltd.

• When these payments were made, what payment label(s) were tagged against these payments as they would appear on the landlords' bank statements? E.g. "Rent: <property post code>?

• Were payments made on a per property basis, or in one monthly lump-sum payment to any given landlord (given that a landlord could have multiple properties with you)?

• In the case of Collins & Bone, into what bank account(s) were the monies you paid to the partners deposited?

• The Company has, according to Patrick Collins, been closed down since September 2011. Four assured shorthold tenancy agreements have been found, and there are almost certainly others, associated with C&B owned properties and issued by Patrick Properties Management Ltd. as follows:

10th June 2011 -> 30th June 2012, 2 Dronfield Rd.
25th August 2011 -> 30th June 2012, 11 Queen Street
1st July 2011 -> 30th June 2012, 41 Albert Rd.
1st July 2011 -> 30th June 2012, 60 Dundonald Street

All these tenancy agreements showed up under http://img.findaproperty.com/novocastria/Newcastle (e.g. the tenancy agreement for 41 Albert Rd. can be found at http://img.findaproperty.com/novocastria/Newcastle/m110852507.pdf?v=2). Hmmm, Novocastria .... I thought Patrick Collins never had any dealings with Novocastria? And then there is the IFS article "MORE ABOUT THE DIGGS DEBACLE" on 25th April 2012 written by Dom Smith whose daughter co-rented 2 Dronfield Rd during the above period, and who has confirmed that management of 2 Dronfield Rd was taken over by Novocastria Lettings at the end of November 2011. So Patrick Collins LIED when he said he never had any dealings with Novocastria.

The tenancy agreement for 41 Albert Road was particularly interesting because the landlords are shown as "Franklynn Management c/o Patrick Properties" as opposed to C&B. When I brought this to Patrick Collin's attention, he said this was an honest mistake and that nothing should be read into it. Moreover, within 24 hours of me bringing this to his attention, Internet searches for the above four mentioned rental agreements no longer showed up, which is clearly not a coincidence and perhaps an indicator that Patrick Collins has something to hide. The Editor has soft copies of all four of these rental agreements, and will make available on request.

When Patrick Collins was asked if his company had closed down in September 2011 who was collecting the rental monies from these properties if not him, he simply stated:

" I can not advise who has been managing the property since then."

That, quite frankly, just will not do! Here is Patrick Collins running a company with debts, and he cannot remember what happened to properties that were providing a steady income stream all the through to end June 2012?

It strikes me as rather suspicious that after managing C&B properties for nearly 9 months, Patrick Collins formed a limited company only to stop business one year later with debts - one could be forgiven for thinking that the sole motive for forming Patrick Properties Management Ltd was to bury debt. And as part of what business entity was Patrick Collins managing C&B properties in the period December 2009 through to 3rd September 2010 when Patrick Properties Management Ltd was incorporated, and have all rental monies owed to C&B for this period been paid?

The Editor