The future of The Shankly Hotel in Liverpool remains uncertain two years after it was put up for sale.
The famous hotel, which was previously run by Signature Living, was placed on the market in May 2021 after the company behind it fell into administration in the prior year.
At the time, CBRE was hired to sell the hotel after the pandemic caused huge difficulties for hospitality operators across the UK.
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The hotel had been run by The Shankly Hotel Liverpool Ops Limited since then but the firm was ordered into liquidation in 2022 after being the subject of a successful winding up petition by HMRC, a creditor of the company.
At the time advisory firm Kroll, which is handling the administration, confirmed that Signature Shankly Limited had taken over the day-to-day running of the hotel, which remains open.
Now Kroll has revealed why a buyer has still not been found for the hotel but confirmed that talks with interested parties are still ongoing.
In newly-filed documents with Companies House, the firm said: "There were several interested parties that were in an advanced phase of the bidding process with the agents in the latter part of 2021 and the joint administrators entered a period of exclusivity with one interested party who put forward the best offer.
"The interested party withdraw their interest and therefore the hotel will be brought back to market as soon as possible.
"The hotel has not yet secured the required building control sign off for the development works that have been completed on the hotel. To obtain Liverpool City Council's sign off, further work is currently being undertaken.
"The retrospective fire risk assessment was completed in December 2022 and the joint administrators are currently working on the program of works and costs schedules.
"The joint administrators have engaged with the council to meet any identified requirements for building control sign off. The absence of building control sign off does not impact the ongoing trading of the hotel at this time.
"The marketing of the hotel will recommence once building control sign off has been obtained, although discussions are ongoing with a number of parties interested in purchasing the hotel."
Kroll added: "The remarketing of the hotel has been delayed, which was in part due to [the] winding up petition issued to SHLO and the property is still missing retrospective building control sign off for the development works that were completed prior to the administration.
"The lack of building control was a stumbling block to progress potential buyers' interests and was being used as a reason to deflate the price buyers were prepared to pay.
"It should be noted there are still parties, old and new, that retain a serious interest in purchasing the hotel and discussions are ongoing with these parties.
"One of the options still being discussed is the joint administrators dispose of the freehold and leasehold interests, with the bedroom investor leasehold interests intact, leaving a purchaser to enter negotiations with individual bedroom investors to buy back their leasehold interests post completion.
"This option would take the hotel out of administration and expedite the sale process if a suitable buyer or a transaction structure that works for all stakeholders can be agreed."
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