The embattled businessman Gavin Woodhouse appears to have been trying to sell his £3.5m stately home, despite the high court freezing his assets earlier this year.
The news has emerged after the collapse of Woodhouse’s empire in the summer following the publication of an undercover investigation by the Guardian and ITV News.
Those reports posed questions over a multimillion-pound “black hole” within the financier’s group of companies, which had raised more than £80m from private investors in order to develop care homes and hotels. A high court judge later said Woodhouse’s business model appeared to be “thoroughly dishonest”.
At the time, Woodhouse denied any wrongdoing.
The property near Halifax in West Yorkshire is a six-bedroom house built in 1638 with adjoining land and a personal cinema room. It was bought for £1.5m in 2016 by Woodhouse and his wife, Charlotte, according to Land Registry filings, but the couple have spent heavily updating the premises since.
The sales literature for the property – which the Guardian understands was produced in October and has been sent to prospective buyers by a local estate agent, Simon Blyth, as recently as this month – describes a property in grounds of more than 10 acres and which has benefited from an internal renovation with “no expense spared”.
The brochure adds: “Over the last couple of years, the hall has been subject to great expenditure with a stunning lavishly appointed interior yet carefully retaining the character and features of this important and majestic family home.
“The master suite, which is the entire second floor, is something to behold. There is also a cinema, library and panelled grand hallway.”
The house does not appear to be advertised for sale on Simon Blyth’s website, nor on property search websites such as Rightmove.
As his businesses imploded in the summer, the high court froze Woodhouse’s personal assets as administrators for much of his group attempted to recoup funds owed to creditors.
In an update to the freezing order issued in September, the court stated: “Until further order from the court, [Woodhouse] must not: (1) remove from England and Wales any of his assets which are in England and Wales up to the value of £2,186,963.17; or (2) in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of his assets”.
The order goes on to say: “This prohibition includes the following assets in particular ...” and refers to Woodhouse’s “interest in land and property” at the Halifax house.
Offering the property for sale is not a breach of the court order in itself. But it is understood a sale would require a variation in the September order.
The proposed sale being marketed by the brochure also refers to an adjoining parcel of meadow land that is owned by a company called Woodhouse Family Ltd. However, the businessman lost control of the land when Woodhouse Family Ltd was placed into administration in August.
Duff & Phelps, the insolvency firm that applied for the freezing order on behalf of Woodhouse’s creditors and is the administrator of Woodhouse Family Ltd, said it had been unaware of the moves to advertise the property and the land until it was asked for comment by the Guardian.
As administrators, the accounting firm is offering the meadow land plot for sale itself and said it had now contacted Simon Blyth estate agents and Woodhouse’s lawyers, JMW Solicitors, about the marketing.
Neither Simon Blyth nor Woodhouse responded to requests for comment.
