Published on dunfermlinepress.com
By Ally McRoberts, January 25TH, 2024
The deal to buy a former church ended in a legal dispute with the administrators of a late Dunfermline businessman’s estate.
PLANS for a community hub and cafe collapsed due to a legal dispute with those in charge of the multi-million pound estate of a Dunfermline businessman who died almost 16 years ago. The Yes U Are Partnership thought they’d done everything by the book when they bought the dilapidated St Andrew’s Erskine Church in 2012 from the Alfred Stewart Property Foundation (ASPF), which was named after the late developer. But the deal became mired in legal complexities for years, following a fraud probe and claims of misconduct by trustees at the charity which benefited from his wealth, and ended up with the partnership having to give up the building in October last year.
It’s now due to be sold at auction next month with a guide price of £230,000.
For a few years it went very well but we had the legal situation hanging around our necks so we couldn’t get the big funding we needed for the church. Then Covid hit and it became clear the legal issue was hampering us so much that we had to settle in a way that wasn’t advantageous and involved us giving up the building to ASPF… It related to a mistake with the deeds and the legal costs kept building up.
John MacDonald, Director, Yes U Are Partnership
