Bad loans leave Serepisos' mother facing eviction
Former bankrupt property developer Terry Serepisos’ failure to repay loans has made his mother’s three Wellington properties subject to mortgagee sales and left her facing eviction.
But when the new owner of one of those properties, developer Matthew Ryan, went to enter the address on Thursday, it ended in an altercation with Serepisos – all while 85-year-old Alliki Serepisos continues to occupy the house.
Ryan alleges he was held in a headlock by Alliki while Terry punched him.
Serepisos alleges Ryan walked into the house unannounced and attacked his mother, forcing him to act in her defence and that a trespass warning had earlier been issued against Ryan.
Police attended after the incident. It is understood no charges have been laid.
Ryan said Serepisos – who has power of attorney over Alliki’s affairs – had used the properties as collateral to borrow more than $800,000 from him.
Ryan said not a cent was repaid but he held back on taking any action for a year after the loan was due.
Alliki Serepisos owned three properties in the eastern Wellington suburb of Miramar: Caledonia St, 91 Nevay Rd, and a large adjoining section at Camperdown Rd. The latter two are about to sell under mortgagee sales, as a result of Ryan calling in the expired loans under the Property Law Act.
Ryan said Serepisos had exercised his power of attorney to use the properties as collateral to borrow an initial $610,000 from him in a sixmonth loan due to be paid by September last year.
Ryan said his lawyer wasn’t satisfied Alliki Serepisos was aware her property was being used for this purpose, so asked that she sign the documents personally, and got independent legal advice.
This came through before the money was loaned, he said.
Ryan said he loaned Serepisos the $610,000 because he was told the elderly Alliki would be homeless if he didn’t. Serepisos convinced him he had consent for a townhouse development and there were financiers ‘‘waiting in the wings’’, Ryan said. Stuff has seen documents and plans showing that Terry sent Ryan a timeline showing resource consent for the townhouses was expected by July last year.
Serepisos told Stuff the initial loan was just to repay his mother’s existing loans. The townhouse development, which had ‘‘talk of’’ potential investors, was still going through the design process and resource consent was not yet applied for.
Ryan now wished he had never got financially involved with Serepisos.
‘‘I have literally spent thousands of hours trying to assist him in the last 18 months. It defies belief how much time of mine he has used up. It has been one hell of a rollercoaster ride with virtually no highs.’’
The initial loan was for six months but Ryan delayed taking action for a further year because of sympathy for Alliki.
‘‘I have tried to do everything I could think of – I am aware she is an 85-year-old lady,’’ Ryan said. None of the $610,000 loan was repaid. Early in 2019, Ryan said, he discovered loans from banks and finance companies over all three properties were not being repaid. Ryan has documents showing the three properties then owed more than $16,000 in rates. With the bank about to sell the Camperdown Rd land, Serepisos came to Ryan for a further $200,000 loan. Ryan says he reluctantly agreed to that because he was was led to believe by Terry this would make him – rather than the bank – the first mortgagee on the land, and add to his security for the loans. Still no money was repaid, Ryan said.
As loans over both Nevay Rd and Camperdown Rd were defaulted, they are scheduled for mortgagee sale later this month.
On Wednesday, Ryan paid $753,000 for the Caledonia Rd house under a mortgagee sale and planned to evict Terry Serepisos from it. However, Serepisos told Stuff he become aware only on Thursday that the Caledonia Rd house had been sold.
He had expected a lawyer to inform him of the sale but instead Ryan had turned up unannounced at the property.
He said his mother had been left ‘‘scared, frightened and distraught’’ by the saga.
When asked if Alliki Serepisos was fully aware of the state of her finances, and her properties having been used as collateral, Serepisos answered: ‘‘My mum has signed most of the documents. My mother is up with the play with every single thing ... There are no hidden agendas.’’
The family would remain in the house until they had heard from a lawyer, he said.
Serepisos added that the other two properties would be refinanced before the scheduled mortgagee sales.
Serepisos, who starred in television show The Apprentice New Zealand and once owned the Wellington Phoenix, ran a commercial property empire that was hit hard in the global financial crisis.
He was declared bankrupt in 2011, owing more than $200 million. He was discharged from bankruptcy in late 2014.
Ryan said on Friday he would use legal means to have Serepisos and his mother evicted.