Ant and Dec face losing £2.5m each after resort where they bought villas goes bust
ANT McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are fighting to recover £2.5million (€2.8million) each after the Algarve resort where they had reserved two luxury villas went bust.
The TV stars put down the money as a deposit on adjacent holiday homes near an exclusive golf course in the Portuguese region in 2015.
But the Keys resort, where they snapped up the properties, went bankrupt – owing millions to a government bank.
Both McPartlin, who has stepped away from TV commitments until 2019 to recover from alcohol and drug addiction, and Donnelly are hoping a solution can be found.
Phillip Schofield, host of ITV’s This Morning, was also listed on official documents as being owed £1.5million (€1.7million).
The Keys Resort, near the exclusive Quinta do Lago golf course, went into liquidation owing £250million (€280million) to Caixa Geral de Depositos, the stateowned bank.
Developer Birchview Imobiliaria has assets of £104million (€116million) and was officially declared insolvent in May.
McPartlin, Donnelly and Schofield paid deposits on their villas to secure the properties, signing preliminary contracts, which in Portugal normally involves a down payment of around a third of the total value.
Full ownership of the property only takes place on payment in full.
McPartlin and Donnelly have spent at least two years fighting the case when faced with the threat of the Portuguese bank repossessing their homes.
Villas at The Keys cost from £3.7million (€4.1million). The more expensive ones the stars picked were said to feature two swimming pools, including a roof-top pool, and a luxury basement level with a cinema, bar, butler’s kitchen and staff quarters.
Presenter Phillip Schofield’s home was a six-bedroom ‘Bel-Air’ villa with a cathedral-height atrium and lift to a sky garden.
‘It’s been a nightmare’, a source said. ‘It’s devastating for the stars to lose their villas in such a special place. It was meant to be a perfect bolthole for them. They finally bought in Portugal after years of returning for holidays in the resort.
‘They loved it for the golf and celebrated Dec’s 40th there.’