The liquidator at the helm of Lombard’s Tasman Mortgages is waiting to meet lawyers for Blue Chip investors before he decides whether to permit their class action to proceed.

Waterstone Insolvency liquidator Steven Khov says he knows of at least two class actions taken by Blue Chip investors that Tasman has been roped into as secondary parties.

Waterstone has the power to make a call on whether the cases can proceed against Tasman, although the investors can also seek permission to continue from the courts.

Lombard Group has appointed a liquidator to both its Tasman Mortgages subsidiaries ahead of an Inland Revenue application to wind up one of the companies over unpaid tax.

Lombard says putting both companies into liquidation will assist in "concluding their affairs."

However, court reporter Bob Dey reports that the move comes too late, just four days before a court hearing of Inland Revenue’s application.

Crippled Lombard Group has disclosed more problems at United Home Loans, which has failed to scrape up new funders to write mortgages and expand its business.

Its major funder, GE Money, withdrew from third-party lending late last year when funding from other sources was tight.

Lombard says conditions have deteriorated further since then and discussions with other lenders have not born fruit.

Lombard Group says unpaid tax that Inland Revenue is chasing from its subsidiary Tasman Mortgage Brokers is the responsibility of former owner Blue Chip.

Lombard filed a statement to the stock exchange late yesterday afternoon disclosing the IRD’s application to wind up Tasman Mortgage Brokers.

This came after NBR had been calling Lombard chief executive Michael Reeves throughout the day for answers to questions on Tasman.

Listed Lombard Group has disclosed that its mortgage management businesses have been hard hit by GE Money’s exit from third-party New Zealand lending.

GE Money was the major funder of mortgages written by Lombard subsidiaries Tasman Mortgages Group and United Home Loans.

Tasman, which Lombard bought from property developer Blue Chip, is not organising new mortgages at present.