A politician in the Northern Ireland assembly has failed in his High Court bid to set aside a £27,000 debt owed over an estate agency franchise.
David McIlveen, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, was disputing a personal loan agreement he allegedly made with the agency, Ulster Property Sales.
He said he was pressurised into signing the loan agreement, but a judge said that these grounds had not been demonstrated.
Mr McIlveen and a business partner secured a franchise for a UPS branch in Ballymena just before the market crash in 2007. He paid £7,500 as an annual fee to cover use of the company's name, branding and promotional material. By 2010 the branch had accumulated a significantly larger debt to UPS, the court was told.
Mr McIlveen was elected as a member of the assembly in 2011 and an agreement was reached with UPS, believed to involve a loan of £35,000 repayable in £500 monthly instalments.
Although Mr McIlveen made 16 payments, they then allegedly ceased without notice.
The judge's ruling claimed:"With his professional background, one would have expected the applicant - perhaps more than most - to understand the serious nature of contracts, whether they take the form of loan agreements or franchise agreements."
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