Christian Candy and his CPC Group are embroiled in a dispute over the £1.5m deposit paid ahead of an unsuccessful bid to buy the leases of three London flats for £15m.
While Candy/CPC are suing to recover their deposit, the would-be sellers are counter-claiming that Candy and CPC breached confidence by seeking to pre-market the properties.
According to particulars of a claim filed on behalf of Candy and CPC at the high court, they entered into an agreement in January to purchase the entire issued share capital in three companies that own the leasehold interests of flats 6, 7 and 8 at 3 Belgrave Place, SW1.
Under the agreement, they say that Jersey-based sellers Volaw Nominees One and Volaw Nominees Two had agreed to sell the flats subject to Candy and CPC satisfying certain pre-completion conditions.
However, those conditions were not satisfied by the agreed date of 21 March 2014, so Candy and CPC claim the deal was automatically cancelled.
Candy and CPC claim there was an agreement that if the deal collapsed they would be repaid their deposit, together with interest.
However, the pair say the defendants have refused to release the deposit, held by Jersey law firm and third defendant Voisin Law.
But in a defence, the Volaw companies say that Candy and CPC breached the terms of the deal by disclosing confidential information without their consent. They say that Candy and CPC pre-marketed the flats to potential buyers, offering 110-year leases.
The Volaw companies claim this pre-marketing resulted in the building’s landlord – Grosvenor Estate Belgravia, Belgrave Leasehold Properties and Belgrave Place Management – refusing consent for them to carry out works that constituted a key pre-completion condition.
They say that the agreement did not automatically terminate and that it was breached by Candy and CPC, arguing that they should be allowed to keep the deposit, plus interest.
