Directors of failed £100m housing scheme face legal action as buyer found

A buyer has been found for stricken £100m part-completed Sherwood Oaks Homes Development in Forest Town, near Mansfield, TheBusinessDesk.com understands.

Property consultancy heb was appointed to sell the scheme back in November after administrators from Moorfields were called in to look after the day-to-day running of developer Sherwood Oak Homes last October.

OakNorth Bank, which holds a charge over the company, applied for Sherwood Oak Homes to be put into administration.

A second firm, Sherwood Oak Holdings, is also in administration.

An administrators’ update paints a confused picture of the last 12 months at the scheme. In early 2023, the directors of Sherwood Oak Homes entered in discussions with Mansfield District Council to buy a small piece of nearby land on which there was a bus stop. After it was appointed, Moorfields discovered that this land had been registered with the Land Registry in the names of the directors and not either of the companies. This was despite the land being bought using cash from Sherwood Oak Homes.

Moorfields instructed law firm Addleshaw Goddard to demand that the bus stop land be transferred to Sherwood Oak Homes, but the directors refused. The administrators are now engaged in a legal battle over the land.

The Oaks is a development of 313 2- 3- 4- and 5-bedrooms houses. Prices range from £225,000 to £480,950.

Henry Boot Construction was chosen as the construction firm on the scheme when it kicked off in November 2021. Pygott & Crone was marketing the homes.