Millfield could face legal action over unpaid proc fees

The administrators of Millfield South East (MSE) are contemplating legal action against Millfield Partnership, if the firm continues to refuse to co-operate.

Herron Fisher, the insolvency practitioners who took over MSE when it went into administration at the end of April, says no money has been paid by Millfield to anyone at the mortgage broker since January.

Christopher Herron, of Heron Fisher, says Millfield's failure to forward on procuration fees to MSE since January was the primary reason for the mortgage broker going into administration. Since then, Herron says, Millfield Partnership has been far from co-operative with his office.

Heron says he has attempted to retrieve the proc feees owed by Millfield Partnership, and has also requested breakdowns of all the proc fee payments owed. But so far in the two months since Herron Fisher took over, Millfield has not provided any information and hasn’t even replied to the firm.

Now Herron says his firm has passed the matter over to its solicitors to pursue Millfield demanding unpaid proc fees to be paid immediately, and although he hasn't directed his solicitors to take legal proceedings yet, he says he will if it becomes necessary.

If MSE does resort to legal action, such action could put the sale of Millfield Partnership to the Money Portal, which was announced on Monday, in jeopardy.

The deal still has to gain approval from the Financial Services Authority and it is unclear whether the Money Portal was aware of the problems that existed at MSE. The possibility also exists that if legal proceedings do go ahead the courts could block the sale of Millfield to money Portal.

At the time of writing, Richard Craven, managing director of the Money Portal was unavailable for comment.

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