The mother of failed property tycoon Terry Serepisos is claiming a finance company short-changed her by more than $200,000 during the sale of an apartment she defaulted on.
The dispute between Alliki Serepisos and General Finance Ltd is currently before the High Court at Wellington.
The central Wellington apartment formerly owned by Ms Serepisos was seized by General Finance after late loan repayment notices were issued in September 2014.
It was then put on the market by Harcourts and several offers of between $500,000 and $600,000 were received throughout 2015, but each fell through.
On May 3 last year an offer of $580,000 was received and accepted by General Finance.
But a lawyer for Ms Serepisos claims her son Terry, the former Wellington Phoenix owner and the host of The Apprentice NZ television show who was declared bankrupt in 2011, met with a man around the same time who was prepared to offer $800,000.
Ms Serepisos' lawyer Kevin Smith said her son, who now lives in the US, phoned General Finance making them aware of the offer which came from a man named in court as "Mr Chin".
However General Finance chose not to follow it up, instead accepting a deposit on May 23 last year and selling the apartment for $580,000.
The case revolves around whether General Finance carried out due diligence and secured the best available price, as a lower price would have impacted Ms Serepisos financially.
Last year Ms Serepisos successfully avoided a bid to bankrupt her.
She has an extensive history of property ownership around Wellington.
On Thursday in court Judge Warwick Smith questioned General Finance's lawyer Sean McAnally as to why no one got "on the telephone" to "Mr Chin", who it's claimed was prepared to pay $800,000.
Mr McAnally said the offer was "vague" and that Mr Chin had never seen the apartment in person, which had "leaky home" problems and a low earthquake safety rating.
He went on to characterise it only as "an expression of interest" which was never seriously followed up.
Mr McAnally said it was reasonable for General Finance to accept the eventual sale price of $580,000, which he argued was entirely consistent with previous offers.
Ms Serepisos' lawyer told the court there was possibly another reason why General Finance pursued the lower offer.
He said on Tuesday Terry Serepisos phoned him from the US claiming he'd discovered the Harcourts agent who sold the house had a "close personal relationship" with the eventual purchaser.
In raising the possible conflict of interest, Mr Smith said he didn't know any other details and couldn't elaborate on the point.
Judge Smith reserved his decision.
Newshub.
