A four-bedroom home repossessed by the Coroner over unpaid debts running to hundreds of thousands of pounds has been sold at public auction.

Highfield, a spacious semi-detached home on Belmont Road, Douglas, fetched £443,000 when it went under the hammer on Wednesday.

It was sold on the instructions of the Coroner for Middle, Kelly Anne Sloane, who took possession of the property last November over unpaid debts totalling £237,980.

Judgment was awarded in favour of the Royal Bank of Scotland in July 2018 and the property was arrested in January the following year.

A series of small claims judgments, going back at least as far at 2017, had been made against its two joint owners for unpaid rates owed to Douglas Council and the Treasury.

Some 60 prospective bidders and other interested parties gathered at Highfield for Wednesday’s public auction.

They were told that as well as the £237,980 owed to the bank, plus interest and fees, there was £14,815 outstanding in rates due to Treasury and Douglas City Council. Lawyer Andrew Bridson, representing the Coroner, said it was difficult to know what amount would be needed to discharge the debts as there could potentially be other judgments to follow. He said a second charge on the property had been cleared.

Auctioneer David Dean of estate agents Deanwood invited an opening bid of £260,000.

After a slow start, there was a swift bidding war with the hammer coming down on a sale price of £443,000.

The property was last purchased for £365,000 in 2010.

Deanwood described Highfield as a spacious semi-detached house. The four-bedroom home features a modern dining kitchen, established private gardens and a sweeping gravelled driveway.

Prospective bidders inspecting the property found it had suffered from being empty for so long, with black mould on the walls, particularly in the upstairs master bedroom.

Highfield was the second property in a week to be sold by public auction over unpaid debts.

The previous week an executive home in Baldrine once valued at more than £1m was sold for £570,000.

Failte, a four-bedroom detached bungalow located just off Clay Head Road,, with panoramic views over Laxey Bay and out to Snaefell, had been on the market since 2021 with an asking price of £1.495,000. 

The property was arrested by the Coroner for Ayre and Garff after lender Barclays obtained a default judgment and execution against former owners Failte Property Ltd in the sum of £1,216,396.

In December another property was sold at public auction. A derelict home on Princes Street, which had been a nightmare neighbour for more than a decade, went under the hammer on the instruction of the Coroner over debts of more than £40,000 owed to Douglas Council. It sold for £64,000.