Simon Morris

Simon Morris, (born 1977) in Leeds, West Yorkshire is a business entrepreneur specializing in property. He is the owner/founder of Morris Properties (UK).

Business Biography

Morris began in business selling leather coats after he had dropped out of studying a year into a law degree at Lancaster University. He soon swapped his coats for bricks and mortar, bought his first flat, refurbished it and sold it for a profit. That was the beginning of Morris Properties, which specialises in residential property for students and young professionals. Its foundations are in Leeds, but the company is also involved in developments across Yorkshire as well as in Nottingham, Derby and Cardiff as it continues to grow at a brisk rate. Morris Properties (UK) is totally owned by its founder and made a £15.4m profit in 2005-06, while First City Rentals, in which Morris has a 65% stake, made a £2.3m profit. Morris is a former director of Leeds United football club. Morris Properties has just moved into new £8m purpose-built headquarters at Brewery Wharf in Leeds city centre and employs about 100 people. He has recently reduced the number of people that he employees directly due to Police [http://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/section-item.asp?sid=2&iid=161] and Fraud Squad [http://www.sfo.gov.uk/cases/guidance.asp ] Investigations in his belief that the people who work for him cannot be interviewed if they are not directly on his pay-role but rather are registered with an employment agency. He has sold vastly over-valued houses [http://www.offplanpropertyexchange.com/off-plan-property-investment/blog/2008/02/08/the-morris-properties-scandal-and-why-you-should-watch-out-for-the-property-scammers/] with vastly inflated rental incomes to many hundreds of unsuspecting customers [http://www.offplanpropertyexchange.com/off-plan-property-investment/blog/2008/02/08/the-morris-properties-scandal-and-why-you-should-watch-out-for-the-property-scammers/] . Most sales include 2 year rental and sometimes mortgage subsidy guarantees in an attempt by Morris to hide and/or falsely inflate the true value of the property and the true rental income value of the property. Once the property is purchased from Morris all the payment guarantees (rental and mortgage subsidy) stop being paid resulting in most of the properties becoming re-possessed. He also offered a 'cash-back' incentive to clients who purchased more than one property. The 'cash-back' has not been repaid to clients upon completion of the sale as had been agreed. There are currently more than one group of legal super-cases underway against Morris for fraud. He has offered one group of investors, being represented by Max Gold Solicitors [http://www.maxgold.com/Templates/MG_Default.asp?modeID=&DoLogin=] , £700,000.00 as 'a goodwill gesture'. The group have rejected the offer [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Tycoon-money-back-battle.3787337.jp] . Max Gold is currently representing almost 150 people who are taking legal cases against Morris. He is also under investigation by several media group's including the BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2007/10/09/yorkslincs_student_housing_s12_w4_feature.shtml] and Panorama [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7228220.stm] because of the way his unsuspecting customers have been treated at his hands. Many of the properties have been repossessed after failing to cover the monthly repayments.

Business In Administration

It has been announced that SRM Holdings, the Leeds based property group owned by Simon Morris has gone into administration together with 37 of its subsidiaries [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/BREAKING-Property-firm-owned-by.4565052.jp] . It was confirmed that the remaining seven are also expected to be placed under the care of administrators Bob Maxwell, John Kelly and Rob Sadler at Begbies Traynor [http://www.begbies-traynor.com/north_east/228] in Leeds [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Simon-Morris-Leeds-property-mogul.4574083.jp] . It is understood that the company has debts of more than £50m to a number of high street banks, tradesmen, suppliers and investors and the possibility of fraud [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Simon-Morris-Leeds-property-mogul.4574083.jp] and irregularities within the businesses is being investigated. These include Mortgage Fraud and significant property over valuation, non payment of rental income to property owners, non payment of rental guarantees, non payment of mortgage subsidy incentives, non payment of deposit incentives, non payment of costs and fees as would had been agreed with clients pre sale, properties having less rentable rooms than they had been valued and sold to clients as having, many properties having the same valuerers’ signature despite the properties being in vastly different parts of the country, most of the properties were incapable of achieving the rental income that was stated in Morris’s sales documentation, the service costs for leasehold properties being vastly under-quoted to potential buyers at the time of purchase, distances to the universities were understated in Morris promotional documentation, many properties not finished in line with Morris Property sales documentation, many of the properties sold having extremely high maintenance costs and low tenant satisfaction as a result of the properties having been poorly finished with many having issues such as lack of infrastructure e.g. metering for electricity, gas and water, missing TV Aerials together with damp/excessive damp and non connection of essential services etc.

Property investors launched a group action against Mr Morris with the help of Max Gold solicitors earlier this year. They claim that they were sold student flats at inflated prices, The number of financial experts delving into the dealings of Mr Morris's collapsed property business is growing [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Simon-Morris-Leeds-property-mogul.4574083.jp] .

Richard Fleming and Mark Firmin from KPMG's Restructuring practice in Leeds [http://www.kpmg.co.uk/] have been appointed as joint administrators to 20:20 Developments (Management) Ltd and Skinner Lane (Commercial) Ltd – both subsidiaries of SRM Holdings Ltd which went into administration on Tuesday 7th October 2008.Together, the two companies hold a development site of approximately 272 residential flats in Skinner Lane, Leeds.

Leeds United

Simon, a former director of Leeds United recently tabled a bid to buy the club. That bid however failed as Ken Bates retained control of club after winning 75.2% of the votes from the creditors [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article1880470.ece] . As the take over bid is being challenged in court by HM Revenue & Customs, there was a possibility that Simon could once again mount a bid to gain control of the club. In the end Ken Bates retained control of the club after increasing his offer to creditors.

uspected Shooting

On Friday, 24th August 2007 at 20:45, Simon's Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was attacked in Tong Lane, Leeds [http://football-chat.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8043] . Police are investigating what they are calling a 'firearms incident'. Simon says that it may have been a brick that struck his car. He suffered minor injuries in the incident and did not require any medical treatment nor did his 26 year old passenger. The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that Morris suffered superficial facial injuries in a shotgun attack while driving in Moortown, Leeds [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/BREAKING-Property-firm-owned-by.4565052.jp] .

References