A man who owes ?65,000 to Island contractor Charles Brand has been given more time to prepare his court defence.

Douglas Alexander Bayley was given the home loan as an incentive to move to the Isle of Man.

But he now lives in Qatar and claims the loan was interest-free, and he’d agreed to pay back the money once his divorce was finalised.

Mr Bayley claimed Michael Lagan of Charles Brand Ltd had broken his word of honour by taking the matter to court.

Jason Roberts reports:

(Text of attached audio)
Mr Bayley admitted he owed the money but said he’d had a written agreement and verbal assurances he could pay the money back after his divorce was settled.

As that was still going through the courts, he said he was surprised to find out the debt had been enforced by a court here in the Isle of Man.

He claimed he’d had no chance to put his side of the case and applied for the judgement against him to be set aside.

Deemster Doyle said he thought there were issues to be addressed and gave Mr Bayley 28 days to file a defence.