KEY POINTS:
A rally is being held in Hamilton tomorrow for investors in collapsed residential property specialist Blue Chip.
The lobby group Exposing Unethical Financial Activities is organising the 10am meeting at the St Frances Church Hall, 92 Mansell Ave, in Hillcrest. Co-ordinator Suzanne Edmonds said she expected people from Tauranga and Auckland to attend because so many people were desperate and needed help.
Garry Abbiss, a Blue Chip investor from Palmerston North, will speak at the meeting and co-ordinate a group of people affected by Tasman Mortgages, Edmonds said. Most lending to Blue Chip investors was done through Tasman Mortgages. Tasman is now owned by Lombard Group.
In a separate move, lawyers are now giving free advice to the investors. Accountants were the first to volunteer their time but yesterday Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel praised members of the Law Society's property law section for offering to help out also. A free telephone number (0508-197510) has been established and Dalziel said more than 80 people had called and taken advice.
More than 20 Blue Chip companies went into liquidation earlier this year after around 3000 people bought properties through the business. The Serious Fraud Office is investigating and Meltzer Mason Heath are liquidators.
People got into financial strife with the business and some now face losing their houses via mortgagee sale.
Paul Dale, a barrister whose Auckland firm is acting for 300 Blue Chip investors, encouraged people to seek expert legal advice. He wants one law firm to be appointed to help investors because he said the issues were so complicated.
Some investors might also qualify for legal aid, he added. He cited the case of one investor who bought more than a dozen apartments in a series of complicated legal arrangements and said it was crucial that people approach lawyers already experienced in helping those involved in the Blue Chip businesses.
He has written to Blue Chip investors warning them to be careful about how they act.
"I remain of the view that your only way out of these problems is by exercising the legal rights available to you," he told investors.
"I am afraid I have little confidence in civil rights claims or indeed ongoing protests achieving any resolution of the problems that you face."
