Wellington, April 24 NZPA - The liquidator for Blue Chip property investment companies said that funders of investors' loans had not forced any mortgagee sales, although some letters of default had been sent out.

Jeff Meltzer, of Meltzer Mason Heath, said that one funder he met today had received numerous hardship applications which it was considering, but had rejected some because they did not meet the criteria.

The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday that Tasman Mortgages was sending out final demand notices to Blue Chip investors, having lent to many investors who took out mortgages on their homes to invest in the scheme.

"People have been getting some pretty strong letters, but I'm not aware that any of those letters have come from mainstream New Zealand banks, so these are from the other non-bank lenders," Mr Meltzer said.

There had been no forced mortgage sales yet. A lender had to serve a Property Law Act notice and wait 20 working days before acting on it.

"No investor has received a Property Law Act notice. Yes, they've had some strong letters and the language might have been a bit threatening, but that's the internal procedures of the funders," he said.

The period of grace of two to three months that the liquidators sought from funders was passing, and it was up to investors to work with funders, he said.

About 62 people had taken up the offer of free time with a chartered accountant.

"I have a concern that investors are waiting for something magical to happen. There is no pot of gold in Blue Chip -- if I find anything, it might be two years away and my concern is that that is not good enough for the investor of for the funders, the issue has to be dealt with now," he said.

Liquidators were awaiting proposals to give some small interim relief to investors as early as next month, but that was not a financial solution.

Twenty-one Blue Chip-related companies are in liquidation.

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