Manchester, United Kingdom — 29/09/2026
Gateley Legal, the legal business at the heart of professional services group Gateley, are working with professional negligence specialists, UCIS Prof Neg, in gathering a group of investors who have lost significant sums of money in unlawful property investment schemes by Fortis Group.
UCIS Prof Neg are proud to announce that it has teamed up with the Top 50 UK Law Firm, to bring together groups of investors in a professional negligence claim to recover millions of pounds lost in Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS) operated and developed by Fortis Group across the UK.
The Fortis Group companies (the director of which is John Quigg), are responsible for these unlawful schemes racking up circa £480m in losses. The longer investors are stuck with these properties, the more money they lose with the value eventually plummeting to zero – due to the lack of ‘Good and Marketable Title’. Some of the developments had not even reached completion before units were sold to investors. Investors are being hit with rising service charges while tenants consistently experience maintenance issues. Xenia Estates, one part of the Fortis group of companies, are the regular management company used for Fortis developments – both companies have shared directors in the past.
Darren Kingsley McClellan, Kieran Stuart Moore, Gareth Morgan and Kevin Cole are all prominently named among the directors across all the various Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) used to build the developments. Morgan, McClellan and Moore were also amongst the directors of Beaumont Morgan Developments Ltd who went in liquidation in 2022 owing £12m.
Commenting on the appointment of Gateley Legal, Dermot Power, a director of UCIS Prof Neg and the former Head of Insolvency at the international restructuring firm BDO said, “We have been meticulously investigating the Fortis scheme for some time and are very pleased to have Gateley Legal on board to help these investors recover their losses. These are life-changing amounts of money for many, and we are therefore happy to be assisting them in this. Hopefully this is a significant step in the right direction of eradicating these unlawful schemes.”
The Gateley Legal team handling these claims is headed up by partner Richard Healey, who also heads up their disputes practice and is head of Gateley’s London office. He has extensive expertise of handling complex disputes and has wide ranging experience in international dispute resolution.
Richard says, “We recognise the enormity of this matter, with more than 4000 investors affected. We are extremely keen to talk to as many investors as possible and will be working closely with UCIS Prof Neg to achieve that.”
Statistics and Facts:
- The Post Office Scandal totalled to $58 Million; this UCIS Property Scandal could reach approximately £10 Billion in project value.
- The total calculated investment value in Adelphi Wharf development alone, is £102,665,000. This development contains 3 buildings with 593 apartments advertised to investors with an ‘assured’ 6% return’.
- The approximate total value of the Fortis scheme (that we are sufficiently aware of) is £483,027,480. Excluding developments in Scotland, the total value is £468,411,810. This is calculated using total number of units, average cost per unit and known developments.
- The value of the scheme in Manchester alone is £347,151,860.
- The Fortis scheme has a total of 61 Companies associated with it, 11 in Liquidation and 19 with Outstanding Charges listed against them on Companies House.
About Gateley Legal
Gateley Legal is the legal business at the heart of Gateley. Founded in Birmingham in 1808, they have provided commercial legal services to individuals and businesses over the last 200 years. Gateley Legal are a significant force and one of the UK’s most active corporate legal advisors, they act for all 10 of the UK’s largest housebuilders and 5 of the 6 largest banks.
In 2015 they were the first commercial UK law firm to list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Now, several years down the line, other law firms have followed in their stead.
About UCIS Prof Neg
UCIS Prof Neg seek to provide guidance to investors on their investments in Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes (UCIS) through examining their investment documentation to gauge whether they have a substantial professional negligence claim. This is ultimately decided through investigating the development and developer alike and ascertaining whether their investment model is that of a UCIS, thereafter a report is given and the case referred to solicitors who action a claim. For more information on this, please get in touch via the details below.
Media Contact
Name: Matthew Sanders
Title: Public Relations & Marketing Executive
Email: matthew.sanders@bbepartnership.co.uk
Phone: 0203 758 9119