Bury Football Club Parking Space Investment

TruthSeaker · 20 January 2019 at 5:18PM

Hi all,

I am trying to figure out the best way to deal with a parking space investment within Bury Football Club which has stopped paying interest about half a year ago. The club itself is heavily in debt and since the owner has changed recently I am worried that they will not honour the contract both in terms of interest and original investment payback. In terms of legal details, my agreement is with a company-intermediary that holds parking space lease. This lease was passed on to me and another contract certifies intermediary's agreement to manage the parking space for me in return for a fixed interest. They are in significant financial
trouble and company-intermediary is likely to dissolve. To make things even more complicated, company-intermediary is owned by the same person as the club.

Has anyone successfully dealt with a similar situation? What is the likely outcome if intermediary dissolves? Will parking space lease go back to the football club?

Browntoa · 20 January 2019 at 5:33PM

Depends on the wording of the agreement between the original owners and the intermediary company and then between you and them.

It may revert to the clubs owners if the intermediary fails to pay their fees or rent to the landowner

Malthusian · 21 January 2019 at 10:40AM

You need professional advice from a regulated solicitor to answer your questions. It is impossible for some guy down the pub who hasn't even seen the lease to answer them. And by consulting a solicitor you would risk throwing good money after bad.

I suggest you write off the investment.

IanManc · 21 January 2019 at 11:24AM

Might it be worth contacting the local paper, the Bury Times, and see if they'll do some digging? They have a lot of coverage of the football club.

https://www.burytimes.co.uk/contactus/

Here is their article from 2014 outlining the original proposition:

https://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/11496724.bury-fc-car-park-spaces-to-rent-at-10000-each/

Hope this helps.

Paul_DNAP · 21 January 2019 at 11:55AM

Sounds like your investment has turned sour, and you'll be lucky to see any of your money again.
When the intermediary folds, you'll have to join the list of creditors looking for recompense. However, the owner has set up their affairs so that this intermediary has all the contractual obligations, but his football club has all the assets then you will find that there will be no money and no assets to meet those obligations.
It sounds like you didn't actually buy the physical plot of land the car park is on, and so it is likely that the ownership of that land has always been with the football club. They leased it to the intermediary who then leased it to you. The club will end their agreement with the intermediary, which is of no bearing to you as your contract was with the intermediary anyway.

IanManc · 21 January 2019 at 12:48PM

IanManc wrote: »

Might it be worth contacting the local paper, the Bury Times, and see if they'll do some digging? They have a lot of coverage of the football club.

https://www.burytimes.co.uk/contactus/

Here is their article from 2014 outlining the original proposition:

https://www.burytimes.co.uk/news/11496724.bury-fc-car-park-spaces-to-rent-at-10000-each/

Hope this helps.

Or you might want to go a bit higher up the food chain with the Manchester Evening News:

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/contact-us/

Plus · 21 January 2019 at 1:20PM

The other problem is that income from the parking spaces (if any) is tied to the success of the club. If the club is in difficulties - even if it doesn't fold but falls down the divisions - the people attending the games may be fewer and less willing to pay as much for parking.

So this isn't just another 'airport parking' investment, but one where the health of the company offering the investment and the health of the market are inextricably linked.

Malthusian · 21 January 2019 at 3:30PM

The initiative, which is being run by Surrey-based property firm Principal International, is offering fans and investors alike the chance to invest £9,995 into the lease of one of 292 car park spaces, in return for a range of financial benefits.

Just shy of £3 million for a plot of empty land with some white lines drawn on it in Bury. Nice little earner. For comparison, you can get this very attractive 5-bedroom manor with a gym and cinema with bar for around the same amount that investors collectively paid for the car park.

IanManc · 21 January 2019 at 7:12PM

Malthusian wrote: »

Just shy of £3 million for a plot of empty land with some white lines drawn on it in Bury. Nice little earner. For comparison, you can get this very attractive 5-bedroom manor with a gym and cinema with bar for around the same amount that investors collectively paid for the car park.

The car park is right outside the ground.

However, the ground is less than a mile, and a short easy walk of around ten minutes, from the bus and tram interchange, where buses arrive from all parts of the town, and from where there is a tram service to Manchester every six minutes.

As well as that, the ground is next to a main road with a bus service to and from the interchange to Manchester every six minutes, plus a number of other services too, and it is in a decent area where safe street parking isn't hard to find.

I was a season ticket holder at Bury for over ten years and if I didn't go on public transport then I parked free on the street within a short distance of the ground.

It never crossed my mind to pay to go in the car park because you really didn't need to.

AnotherJoe · 22 January 2019 at 9:58AM

It should be illegal to use the words "car park" and "investment" in the same sentence.

As for the OP, best case you've lost your money, as was always going to be the case.
Worst case, you've lost your money and you have liabilities due to needing to pay some sort of council tax or similar on the lease.

Possibly you could claim the contract was null and void on the grounds of diminished responsibility given that you thought a parking space at Bury Football club would ever be a good investment.

Malthusian · 22 January 2019 at 10:29AM

Added to what IanManc said, Bury play 23 home games a year. Let's be very generous and round that up to 30 to allow for cup games and friendlies. To generate a return of 11%pa (9% a year plus 10% extra after 5 years) fans would need to be willing to pay over £35 for a parking space. That's ignoring costs.

Sure, people might use the car park on non match days, but I can't see why they would as Gigg Lane isn't exactly slap bang in the city centre.

This is why the UK needs to bring its securities laws out of the 1920s.

Bury Football Club Parking Space Investment

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