The Iceman: The Rise and Fall of a Crime Lord (26 page)

JS: He knows, he knows. He’ll phone him tomorrow.

AB: I’ll just go. I’ll go and nudge them around tomorrow.

JS: I don’t think he’s there much. I’ve never seen him the last couple of weeks.

AB: I think he just goes in very early and gets out, doesn’t he? He didn’t do us any favours with the surveyor on getting the re-valuation done. He was talking it down, saying it’s garbage, shite takings – this, that and the other. Basically, the guy rang me. I said, ‘Listen, he’s at it because he wanted to get his hands on the place and that’s not going to happen.’ So I sent him a copy of the lease and he’s talked his figures down for gas sales and that. We’ve got the valuations coming in at three-twenty [£320,000] as it is.

JS: Fuck him.

AB: He’s no’ getting . . .

JS: He’s not getting it anyway. He’s fucked himself. He’s just blew himself out of the water. He’s just a stupid wee man.

AB: Greedy.

JS: He’ll just need to pay through – pay the money he owes and pay the next couple of years.

AB: His rent goes up again in June.

JS: Aye, well, just speak to him.

AB: And the lease has got another two years to run. He told me he was looking for a five-year lease ’cos he wanted to put a spa in there.

JS: Just give him a fuckin’ five-year lease.

AB: He hasn’t come back to me with a proposal. These are the things I said to him in an e-mail. Y’know, come back to me with a proposal and tell me about the Shell station ’cos he seemed to be in the know about it. ’Cos I can’t . . . I’ve been all over Shell’s website and I can’t get any information about even where to look about their properties.

 

JS: It’ll be in one of they thingwies.

AB: What the agents?

JS: Aye.

AB: I was just on the Shell site. That’s all I’ve been on.

JS: Naw, they won’t tell you.

AB: Well, they don’t even have a page to go to on their estates or anything – properties . . .

JS: Do you not put it in under petrol stations for sale in the UK – Glasgow area?

AB: Looked into everything. I’ve looked into everything
.

JS: Maybe he’s just talking a lot of shite.

AB: See we could turn that Viking round as well and make that start earning money.

JS: First you need to get a valuation on it. ’Cos it’s not worth anything as a business.

AB: The only way we can do this merger is on a property valuation.

JS: Aye, aye.

AB: That’s the only way it can be done. It can be done by the issuing of shares and credits with directors’ loan accounts so that you don’t attract any tax – capital gains tax. You know it’s just a property transaction but we still need to do it. We got to generate income so I mean the garage is generating income – that’s got to generate income for the group.

    
So that means we have to get a hold of the business and turn it around, let the property, sort the vans out and everything. But that’s not hard. Well, I won’t bore you with all that tonight. Shall I ring Willie in the morning and arrange to go down to Helensburgh and look at that flat?

JS: Aye

AB: I’ve got my camera with me so I can take a few snaps. It’s closed down now, has it?

JS: I don’t know, Tony. It was Willie that came up with it.

AB: Does he do training in the morning?

JS: Aye, have you got his number?

AB: Well, I haven’t got my phones with me. If you see him, ask him what time he’ll be available. He’ll probably be in his bed now, won’t he? Watching telly.

JS: It’ll be the afternoon he’ll go down. Take his number.

AB: I’ll give him a ring tomorrow, then go down and look at that. I’ve got to see the auditors and the accountants ’cos they’ve got some of the paperwork that you and I need to go over together. I’m meeting them on Tuesday. Also their tax consultant, who’s given me the formula to put all this together. Between them, they’re saying we should set up a holding company. That’s got to be done. There’ll be some tax to pay on shares, share transfers, and their fees will come to about three and a half grand to do it all, put it all in place, which is not a lot. What about Ronnie’s house? Do you want me to get a mortgage for that?

JS: Aye, we’ll need to, won’t we?

AB: Yeah.

 

JS: What about that one next door?

AB: I haven’t even started on that yet. I want to get that one first. You’re probably looking at about two-twenty to two-twenty-five [£225,000] for that plus costs.

JS: If he doesn’t sell it? Well, he will sell it. He’ll sell it all right or we’ll start pouring paint over it, spray-paint the windows. It’ll be the worst mistake if he doesn’t sell it. There’s nothing worse than getting your wee windows smashed now and again. Or a big window smashed. I’m looking for somewhere, anyway. What do you think?

AB: What I was going to suggest is we lease that. Lease it, you know, all proper and kosher. And I’ll lease this one off you.

JS: Aye.

AB: You know, pay you rent for this one ’cos you don’t want to get rid of this do you?

 

JS: I’m trying to get it out of her name, actually.

AB: Is it hard?

JS: Naw, there’s a few probs. There’s a few down the stairs for sale.

AB: I see there’s a sold sign downstairs.

JS: Aye that sold in a day.

AB (to the dog): You’re in a bad way. You’re in a bad way, mate.

JS: I’m actually waiting on a price for six flats up in East Kilbride but they’ve no’ got back to us. Need to get back to the boy. Apparently he’s making about twenty grand off each of them – it’s a fuckin’ steal.

AB: So, with the fusion, the merger of all three different assets, you’ve got about one-point-one million [£1.1 million] there.

JS: Aye, easy.

AB: Bought and paid for. It’s a good lever.

JS: For what?

AB: You’ve got the asset value there so you’d be able to raise mortgage finance no problem at all.

JS: Oh, fuck, aye. No problem, no bother whatsoever. I’ll tell you one thing. See that fuckin’ Edinburgh, on that Leith waterfront. When that development finishes . . . absolutely frightening.

AB: Is it? Have you been down and had a look?

JS: Aye, spent a day in Edinburgh. I didn’t know what like the market was but there’s Barratt doing a two-bedroom at one-eight-five [£185,000]. Trinity . . . where’s Trinity in Edinburgh? Anyway the boy’s got a meeting with Barratt who does a lot of business with him and I told him twenty – twenty per cent. I don’t want anything less than twenty per cent off the market value of the house. So I reckon, when the development’s finished, that’s when we should cash them in. The people would be selling if you get thirty grand off each unit. For talking’s sake, if you bought three off that development, three in that, four in that – so, if the house is on at one-eight-five, Barratt give you the cash back at one-twenty.

Say we use a hundred grand for the four properties, twenty-five on each property. The properties are one-eight-five so you’ve got a mortgage of one-sixty but Barratt actually give you back thirty or forty grand so you can either leave it in the property equity or you can take it out, so you’ve no’ put anything in but it still looks as if you’re still paying the one-eight-five. So when you go to sell it at a later date, you’ve no’ paid like you’ve got thirty grand off it. You’ve no’ paid one-fifty on paper – you’ve paid one-eight-five or whatever it was.

AB: You pay the taxes on one-eight-five?

JS: Aye, so at the end of the day when you go to sell it when the development’s finished, then you’ve fuckin’ won a watch, haven’t you?

AB: Aye.

JS: It was the boy that was explaining ’cos that’s all he does, see – he goes and buys twenty and thirty at a time so I’ve been firing him up there ’cos he says there’s six in East Kilbride at the corner of the Whirlies [a roundabout] and they’re doing one-three-two [£132,000]. He says, ‘Jamie, if I can get something off them, then I think, in hindsight, go for the six of them.’ Then ‘Wait,’ he says, ‘and wait ’cos I’ve went in and they’re really good value for money.’

AB: Where’s that? In East Kilbride?

JS: Just at the Whirlies. Good renting potential as well. Just need to get a good rent, a good agent.

AB: There’s plenty of good agents around at the moment.

JS: Naw, letting agents.

AB: We could do our own factoring, couldn’t we?

JS: Aye, no bother. There’s four flats – I’ve gied them away there to Gerard [Carbin] in Castlemilk. Four flats in the centre of Castlemilk. Three of them are leased out – two-seventy, two-seventy, three hundred [£270 and £300 per month]. The other one wasn’t leased ’cos the people got put out. It’s cost eighty grand for the four of them. Eighty thousand. The guy’s taking fifteen under the table which made them sixty-five. It’s got rental income of fucking twelve hundred quid or something. Fuck’s sake, you couldn’t whack that.

AB: I must say that’s a pretty good return.

JS: That’s good. Fuck’s sake, five year and you’re getting your money back. The social would fill them with people. You’d get three hundred quid off the social, two-seventy for one bedroom, three hundred for two.

AB: Guaranteed.

JS: It’s just actually going out and looking – finding it.

AB: Have you got furnishings?

JS: What?

AB: Have you got furnishings as well or will the tenants get their own furniture?

JS: I don’t know. I think there’s furniture in them. Fuck, it doesn’t take much to furnish a house now. A furnished flat is just a . . .

AB: A grand to furnish a flat – carpets, bed.

JS: Get carpets. Jim’s got all that wood.

AB: I’ve been trying to sell that for him but he won’t come back to me with details. Harry wants to buy that off him.

JS: I seen the wood in Focus for twenty pound. I think he’s just trying to get his money back. Stupid-looking twat.

AB: Yeah but he’s got some partner or other that’s involved and he’s got it all stashed somewhere, hasn’t he?

JS: I don’t know. I knew he was trying to sell it. Somebody was wanting it at fourteen quid a square metre.

AB: He’ll be doing well to get that. He’ll be doing very well to get that off Harry. Harry will probably pay him a tenner. I’ve knocked back that Rockwood offer. They’ve come back with an offer.

JS: For what?

AB: Troon. Four-twenty [£420,000].

JS: Which has planning?

AB: Yeah so I just said your offer has no merit – forget it. I spoke to Wallace about it – he reckoned he’d have to pay us between six-fifty and eight hundred [£650,000–£800,000] for that to make it worth our while so I just knocked him back.

JS: I think we paid too much for that.

AB: Things all stack up. Figures all stack up. We’re getting a good wage out of that.

JS: Aye, I reckon I’ll get fuckin’ one-six-five [£165,000] anyway.

AB: Well, it’s two years ago. Local estate agent priced those at one-five-six [£156,000] – small two-beds, one-five-six each – two years ago. Probably value’s gone up in that area – probably fifteen per cent in that intervening period. They only got two penthouses on top.

JS: Two-twenty [£220,000], you’d get for them. So we’ve done all right.

AB: I’m going to get down the road. I’ll ring Willie tomorrow.

JS: I’ll get you down. Fuckin’ like an oven in here.