Deborah Dover, who famously rose from being a junior estate agent to be a successful property developer with a portfolio at one point valued at £80 million, has been in court this week.

Now known via her married surname Fiorentino, she began her property career in the late 1970s with a holiday job at Spyer and Partners, a Hampstead estate agency that specialised in investment purchases.

Within three years, she had progressed to branch manager and then arranged a £10,000 bank loan to purchase the business when the owner decided to sell.

After that, Fiorentino expanded the agency’s activities to include interior design and also began acquiring properties across London’s prime locations. Her marriage to wealthy Italian aristocrat Giovanni Fiorentino in the early 1990s helped, providing her with access to larger sums to make property acquisitions.

Heavy borrowing

But the property industry figure is now up against her lender in court after the portfiolio’s financial position became more complicated, the Daily Mail reports. The bank involved, Banque Havilland, is attempting to repossess her seven-bedroom Regent’s Park mansion, which was once home to Charles Dickens.

Incapable’ of marketing a house and consistently over-priced her properties.”

It has argued that she has not made her mortgage payments since December 2022 and that it had given her ample time to rectify the situation.

A North London property in Frognal has been sold after she accepted an £11m offer, despite a £19.95million asking price. Her Regent’s Park home remains unsold.

Fiorentino is blaming her troubles on the bank, claiming it prevented her from refinancing her mortgage, which cost her millions and is asking for more time to settle her debt of over £10.2m.

Following a day-long hearing, Judge Parfitt has reserved his decision on the bank’s possession claim until a later date.

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