A Nottinghamshire business owner says she is still owed £5,000 for an apartment she reserved but which has not yet been built. Geraldine Murphy, 53, who lives in Sutton-in-Ashfield, first put down a reservation fee in November 2021 for an off-plan apartment in Newcastle.
Off-plan is when a property is purchased or reserved before it is built, with only the plans available for inspection. Mrs Murphy's reservation fee was for an apartment in a development at Strawberry Place in Newcastle, near Newcastle United's home at St James' Park.
Mrs Murphy, who runs a holiday lets business, said she expected to exchange in early 2022 but that this timeline kept slipping. She said: "We were expecting progress very early last year but nothing seemed to be happening and I was eventually advised by the company I had been working with to request a refund.
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"The key issue was that there seemed to be no fixed date by which the development would actually be completed and that was obviously very concerning." Mrs Murphy filled out a refund form in March and she said that, despite being promised on three separate occasions between last June and December that she would be paid, she has still not been refunded.
That is also despite a judgement in her favour from the small claims court, a claim which was submitted on December 14. The claim made by Geraldine Murphy was against The One Collection company, which is marketing the St James' Park development.
One Collection's website describes the Strawberry Place development as one which will entail the "mixed use development of apartments and commercial space in the heart of Newcastle city centre". But the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in Newcastle reports that, although plans were given approval in 2019, work has stalled since then.
The LDRS in Newcastle also reports that the previous developer on the project, the High Street Group, fell into administration and another investment group is now leading the work. Mrs Murphy added: "I've been promised so many times that I'll get this refund but I haven't seen a penny yet.
"This company is still advertising for other people to put reservations down on this apartment and it's worrying that they're not giving me my refund while they're still doing that." The One Collection company was contacted for a response, but a spokesperson said the company did not want to comment on Mrs Murphy's refund at this stage.
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