Property developer once dubbed 'landlord from hell' made bankrupt

A controversial property developer has been made bankrupt at a court hearing.

Nigel Russell, who was once described by an investor as the 'landlord from hell', appeared at Liverpool County Court last Wednesday (March 2). It following a petition to the court by the 60-year-old's creditors.

Law firm DTM Legal represented the petitioners but said it could not comment on the case and it is not clear what was owed, the Liverpool Echo reports.

READ MORE: Ed Sheeran denies 'borrowing' ideas from smaller songwriters in copyright court battle

Mr Russell, formerly of Duddon Hall Barns, in Tarporley, Cheshire, is now understood to be living in Marbella in Spain's Costa del Sol. He owned a number of significant properties in Liverpool such as the Richmond Hotel and student accommodation sites.

In 2018 he was charged with fraud relating to four developments across Liverpool but he was cleared after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) offered no evidence. Later the same year he was also cleared of sending a malicious communication to Louise Connelly, the then Private Sector Housing Services licensing manager at Liverpool Council.

In 2014 the ECHO reported how Liverpool Council were "bombarded" with complaints about Mr Russell from investors who failed to receive returns on their cash. The issue mainly related to a development at the Grade II listed former St Andrew's Church in Rodney Street, which Liverpool Council sold to Mr Russell for just £1 in 2010 on the proviso that it would be developed as student accommodation.

That development, and other projects, attracted investors from Canada, Brunei, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.

One of his firms, Penlake, was struck off by the Liverpool Student Homes network after complaints