The mother of Terry Serepisos has been ordered to pay $50,000 to General Finance over a defaulted mortgage on a Wellington apartment but the company's chase of a further $225,000 will need to be argued at a trial.
General Finance has sought summary judgment against the mother of discharged bankrupt Terry Serepisos over some $275,000 owed on a defaulted mortgage but her lawyer argued the mortgage lender "sabotaged" the sale of the apartment and is to blame for the outstanding money.
Alliki Serepisos was the owner of a Wellington apartment financed via a mortgage with General Finance but soon defaulted on the payments and the property was put up for sale. It sold in early May 2016 for $580,000, well below the valuation on which the mortgage had been provided. Before real estate firm Harcourts won the listing, it had appraised the value at $995,000 and evidence was given of a 2014 valuation by Telfer Young for about $715,000.
While there is no argument from the Serepisos family that the mortgage was in default, lawyer Kevin Smith argued that the mortgagee was the architect of its own misfortune by taking 18 months to sell the apartment and then failing to respond to a potential higher offer - before it had signed the sale and purchase agreement - that would have left Alliki owing very little.
According to a judgment released today Smith sought an adjournment on the case. Terry Serepisos, acting as his mother's attorney in defence of the claim, told Smith that there was a "close personal relationship" between the agent involved in selling the property for General Finance, and the eventual buyer of the property.