Young property tycoon declared bankrupt
A property mogul who was once ranked sixth on the Sunday Times Young Rich List has been declared bankrupt after his property business folded last year.
The Yorkshire Post reported that a bankruptcy order has been filed against Simon Morris at Leeds County Court, after his residential and commercial property group, SRM Holdings, was put into administration, along with 36 of its subsidiaries.
Administrators, Begbies Traynor, disclosed that the firm collapsed with debts exceeding £50 million. Its main creditors are some of the biggest high street banks.
Mr Morris launched a buy-to-let business a few years after finishing his A-Levels and was well-known for having amassed a £69 million fortune before he was 30 years-old.
Although his company owned a portfolio of over 500 properties and was said in 2006 to have a turnover of £80 million, the business later ran into trouble when the commercial property bubble burst and a BBC Panorama programme revealed that the company was failing to keep up with mortgage payments on many of its properties, resulting in tenants having their flats repossessed.
Despite blaming the problems on the credit crunch, Mr Morris was made redundant from his own firm and arrested soon after at his gated home in an affluent area of Leeds, as part of a fraud and money laundering investigation.
The young entrepreneur, his father and seven others were arrested, although no one has yet been charged. A spokeswoman for the Serious Fraud Office stated that the investigation is ongoing.
Bob Maxwell, partner at Begbies Traynor, said the bankruptcy was “inevitable”.