EXCLUSIVE | Leas Pavilion, Folkestone: A £350,000 Sales Office, a £2 Debt Deal and a Mortgage Mystery

The former sales office for Folkestone’s unfinished luxury flats was transferred to the building contractor as part of a debt settlement. But company records reveal different property values, an outstanding charge and an agreement involving adjoining land and rights to buy the property back.

In February 2023, prospective buyers were invited into 97 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, to discover the luxury apartments promised at Leas Pavilion.

There they could meet the sales team, admire the plans and discuss buying one of 91 homes overlooking the English Channel. The developer’s own advertising promised an opportunity to own a coastal dream home.

Three years later, the apartments remain unfinished. Construction stopped in April 2024, and receivers were appointed that October.

Now, documents obtained and examined by Shepway Vox reveal what happened to the former sales office.

The property was transferred to construction contractor Ant Yapi (UK) Limited in August 2025 as part of a settlement involving an unpaid debt. Its accounts refer to a nominal consideration of just £2.

A £350,000 property and a £2 transaction

Land Registry records show that Folkestone Invest Ltd transferred 97 Sandgate Road to Ant Yapi on 21 August 2025.

The transfer was registered six days later, with a stated value of £350,000. Earlier property records show the building had sold for £270,000 in May 2022

But Ant Yapi’s audited accounts for 2025 tell a more complicated story.

On page 24, the contractor explains that it received the property as compensation for a debt previously written off in 2024.

The accounts refer to a nominal consideration of £2 and reveal that the transaction formed part of a wider commercial agreement involving adjoining land, leases, rights to buy the property back and other obligations.

There is another figure.

Ant Yapi recorded the property at £215,000, based on valuations by independent chartered surveyors DGRE. It also recognised a £215,000 accounting gain arising from the debt settlement.

That leaves four figures associated with the property.

These figures tell different parts of the same story. The £2 was nominal consideration, not the property’s true value. The transfer formed part of a settlement of a debt owed by Leas Pavilion Development Ltd to its contractor, Ant Yapi, alongside other contractual rights. Ant Yapi.pdf

But there is an important distinction. The debt was owed by Leas Pavilion Development Ltd, yet the property was transferred by Folkestone Invest Ltd, a separate company directed by Hendrik Danneels and Bernard Dardenne. Both men were also connected to the Leas Pavilion development. Why was one company’s property used to settle another company’s debt, and what did Folkestone Invest receive in return?

There is also the question of value. The Land Registry records £350,000, while Ant Yapi’s accounts value the property at £215,000. That is a difference of £135,000, which has yet to be explained.

The Belgian businessmen behind both companies

Folkestone Invest Ltd, which transferred 97 Sandgate Road to Ant Yapi, is run by Belgian businessmen Hendrik Danneels (pictured) and Bernard Dardenne.

Dardenne is also a director of Leas Pavilion Development Ltd. Danneels is connected through Belgian company Mylecke NV, a shareholder and corporate director of the Leas Pavilion developer.

The timing of the management changes is revealing.

Olivier Daelemans, previously responsible for the Leas Pavilion project, resigned as a director of both British companies on 2 September 2024.

Dardenne joined Folkestone Invest the following day and became a director of Leas Pavilion Development on 27 September. Just over a month later, receivers were appointed over the development’s secured property.

Whether the changes formed part of a wider financial restructuring remains unclear.

Meanwhile, neither company has published accounts beyond 2022. Folkestone Invest also faces compulsory strike-off proceedings, although action was suspended in August 2026.

That leaves an important gap in the public financial record during the period when the property changed hands.

But what happened to the West One mortgage?

The debt settlement raises another question.

On 12 May 2025, Folkestone Invest registered a charge over 97 Sandgate Road in favour of West One Loan Limited.

Three months later, the property was transferred to Ant Yapi.

Yet Companies House still lists West One’s charge as outstanding, while the Land Registry shows Ant Yapi as the owner with no registered mortgage against the property.

There may be a straightforward explanation. West One could have released the property, the loan may have been repaid, or its security may continue over other assets.

But the records do not establish which.

There is another detail buried in the Land Registry title.

The August 2025 transfer contains a restriction referring to paragraph 11.6.14 of the agreement between Folkestone Invest and Ant Yapi. Certain future dealings with the property require a conveyancer to confirm that this provision has been followed.

What Dardenne told Shepway Vox

In March 2026, Leas Pavilion Development Ltd sent Shepway Vox an official statement claiming that Mylecke NV had invested close to £20 million into the development.

The company also announced an agreement in principle with a new senior lender and preparations for bridging finance to remove the receivers.

It made another firm assurance:

“All deposits paid by buyers have remained at all times in solicitor custody, in full compliance with UK conveyancing rules.”

The statement added that the money had never been used for construction or operating expenses. However, it did not specifically explain whether the protection extended to initial reservation fees.

There is no evidence in the documents examined that purchasers’ money was used to finance 97 Sandgate Road or transferred between the two companies.

But Ant Yapi’s accounts reveal another development.

Following the end of 2025, the contractor continued discussions concerning the proposed development associated with the Folkestone property. The accounts do not explain what those discussions involved or what was agreed.

That makes the rights over adjoining land and the option to buy back the former sales office particularly important.

Who benefited from the deal?

The central questions are now straightforward.

How much did Leas Pavilion Development Ltd owe Ant Yapi, and how much of that debt was settled by transferring Folkestone Invest’s property?

What did Folkestone Invest receive in return? Who holds the right to buy the building back, and on what terms?

And what happened to West One’s security when ownership changed?

Dardenne, Danneels and Ant Yapi are well placed to explain those arrangements.

The documents also leave one other important question unanswered: what role, if any, does 97 Sandgate Road now play in plans to complete Leas Pavilion?

In 2023, the building was being used to sell luxury homes overlooking the English Channel.

By August 2025, it had been transferred to the contractor as part of a settlement of unpaid debt.

The contractor received the property. The developer’s debt was being settled. But what did Folkestone Invest get in return — and who ultimately benefits from the deal?

The Shepway Vox Team

Delivering Dissent Since 2015