Scottish castle on market for £1.25m after battle over £230 debt ends

theguardian.com:

A Baronial castle that has been at the centre of a 25-year legal battle over a £230 debt has gone on the market for more than £1.25m.

Knockderry, on the west coast of Scotland, was designed by the architect Alexander “Greek” Thomson and is A-listed, largely on account of its ornate and richly panelled Leiperian interior, which is considered one of the finest examples of the style in Scotland in the country.

The previous owner of the Victorian mansion near the village of Cove, Dunbartonshire, was 72-year-old Marian van Overwaele, who was made bankrupt after repeatedly refusing to pay a bill relating to a bridalwear business she ran in the 1990s.

Her repeated refusals to pay escalated the debt to £30,000, at which point a bankruptcy trustee was appointed to take control of her assets, but Van Overwaele has fought ongoing attempts to have her evicted so that the mansion could be sold off to pay her creditors.

After she was made bankrupt in 2000 over the unpaid factor fee bill, Van Overwaele transferred ownership of Knockderry to her brother, George Amil, and continued to live there with him and his family. But last summer their legal battle came to an end at the court of session, Scotland’s highest court, when their motion against a decree ordering them to vacate the property was refused, and they were evicted in March.

The mansion, which was built in the 1850s and is set above Loch Long, is being marketed for offers over £1.25m by the estate agents Strutt & Parker and Shepherd surveyors.

With six bedrooms, four reception rooms and a wealth of original features including turrets, stone balustrades and a minstrel gallery, potential buyers have been cautioned that the property requires “extensive upgrading and refurbishment”.

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