A HOSPITAL consultant fears losing his life savings after paying £60,000 towards buying an apartment in a Liverpool tower block just weeks before its developer hit financial problems.

Dr Nadeem Iqbal, aged 60 from Langho, paid the cash and exchanged contracts on the £220,000 flat in Herculaneum Quay on June 5.

On June 27 the developer behind the waterfront 119-apartment block was put into administration and the consultant anaesthetist fears he may never get his flat or his money back.

Dr Iqbal, who works for the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust at its Burnley General and Royal Blackburn teaching hospitals, said: “I am in despair.

“This is a significant proportion of my life-savings and I don’t know if I will ever get it back.”

The married father-of-four has worked in the NHS since arriving from Pakistan in 1991 including 17 for EHLT. He formerly lived in Beardwood, Blackburn.

Ribble Valley Conservative MP Nigel Evans and Blackburn Labour MP Kate Hollern have backed his fight for his savings.

Dr Iqbal said: “I paid the money over in good faith as a reservation fee and a deposit on a flat for my son to use at university in Liverpool and as a retirement investment. It was nearly complete.

“Just weeks after I paid, the company went into administration. I feel cheated.

“I have lost all trust. I don’t want the flat any more. I just need my money back.

“My solicitor started the process of registering the title with the Land Registry but that had not happened by the time to administration was declared. That means I have no claim on the flat.”

The tower block was being developed by Herculaneumco Ltd but major financier Lendy ‘lost confidence’ in it ability to complete the building in time and on budget.

It called in administrators’ Quantama despite Herculaneumco director Kerry Tomlinson pledging to fight the move.

The MPs letter to Quantama says: “It is Dr Iqbal’s view that the developers were fully aware of the financial position, and that to allow our constituent to make payment constitutes misleading practice. He is understandably deeply concerned his life’s savings will be lost. Dr Iqbal is extremely distressed.”

Joint administrator Simon Campbell from Quantuma said: “We are exploring options which may lead to a deal for investors.”

A Lendy spokesman said: “ We had exhausted all other options and were left with no alternative but to go down the administration route.

"“No party has contested the administration of the Herculaneum Quay development. Lendy is actively working with investors in the development, with the aim of finding a suitable solution.”

Kerry Tomlinson, director at Herculaneumco Ltd and its parent company, Primesite Developments. “The sudden and unjust appointment of an administrator on Herculaneumco Ltd was as bewildering and dismaying to us as it was for our investors. Neither we, nor any of our contractors or partners had an inkling of the situation about to be inflicted on us until we were informed at 11am on the 27th of June.

"All prior communications are documented, and confirm that there was no indication of Lendy’s plans to call in administrators. The moment we were informed of the administrators' arrival, we updated our exclusive selling agents Certa Invest, who immediately ceased all sales.

"We can’t comment on individual cases, but all investors were made aware of the risks of property investment by their solicitors before a contractual cooling-off period. We have always been determined to complete Herculaneum Quay, and are the biggest investor in the project. The process has taught us a lesson about bad funding and unscrupulous lenders.    

"We want our investors to know that we are still working with our creditors and the administrators, and will continue to fight for the best solution for them. We all put our heart and soul into this development and we refuse to give up.”