FILAN FIRESALE
FIVE PROPERTIES GO UP FOR SALE AT FRACTION OF THE PRICE PAID BY BANKRUPT WESTLIFE STAR
SHANE FILAN is selling up as he bids to pay off millions of euro of debt.
He already has his luxurious Carraroe house on the market. Now, he’s putting other properties under the hammer in an bid to pay off debts of €23m.
These include a 146-acre farm bought by the bankrupt former Westlife star for more than €1m.
The land, with a derelict two-storey period residence, is located near Dromahair. It will be auctioned off on April 12th. The farm is one of five Filan properties for sale by the receiver.
The others are: 3.6 acres of agricultural land at Carraroe; a three-bed duplex apartment block at Mill Falls, Collooney; a four-bed, two-storey semi-detached house in Innisfree Court in Tonaphubble, Sligo; a three-bed two-storey semi-detached house at Glenard, Ballinode.
IT’S ANOTHER Shane Filan property firesale. More of the Westlife star’s investments have gone up for auction in an effort to pay off debts of €23m.
Shane’s palatial pad at Carraroe is already on the market. Now other properties are on the block. These include a 146-acre farm bought by the bankrupt former Westlife star for more than €1m.
It has a guide price of just over half that now.
The land, with a derelict two-storey period residence in need of refurbishment, is located near Dromahair.
It will be auctioned off on April 12th in the Sligo Park Hotel at 3pm.
Auctioneer David Reynolds, of Gunne Reynolds, is acting on behalf of receiver Declan Taite, of RSM Farrell Grant Sparks. Reynolds expects keen interest in the farm. He said: “It’s good land. It’s not often a farm of that size comes on the market in Sligo/Leitrim.”
The farm is one of five Filan properties that have now been advertised for sale by the receiver. The others are:
● 3.6 acres of agricultural land at Carraroe, with a guide price of €55,000.
Although it doesn’t have planning permission, it could have fetched up to €300,000 at the height of the boom.
It is beside where Filan’s one-time €3m mansion is now also for sale for less than a million.
● A three-bed duplex apartment block at Mill Falls in Collooney, now valued at €50,000 but which could have made over €200,000 in the boom.
● A four-bed, two-storey semi-detached house in Innisfree Court in Tonaphubble, Sligo, valued €140,000, about half what it would have cost years ago.
● A three-bed two-storey semi-detached house at Glenard, Ballinode, valued €150,000, again about half what it would cost in the Celtic Tiger days.
Filan’s home at Carraroe, with belongings cleared out, was put on the open market after a meeting of creditors in Dublin last January.
The millions owed by Filan and a family company include borrowings for a site at Carraroe, purchase of the Breffni Centre in Dromahair, an old bakery in Ballina, and a 2.25 acres site on the Strandhill Road in Sligo, which was earmarked for a nursing home.
He also owes banks more than €5m in personal guarantees to family company Shafin Developments.
At the end of 2011, the Westlife singer and his wife and family moved to a £2.2m house in Surrey, England, where bankruptcy rules are more lenient that in Ireland. He is expected to exit bankruptcy in June. However, creditors could still seek court approval to obtain a percentage of his income for three years.
And that would cut into his earnings if he were to embark on a solo career, as is expected.