A bankrupt businessman has lodged an appeal against a court ruling in a bid to stop receivers taking possession of his home.

Sam Alder argued that his tenancy on the The Grange in Onchan was protected by virtue of it being an agricultural holding.

But in a judgment handed down in December Deemster John Needham said Mr Alder did not benefit from a protected tenancy.

Now he and trustees of The Grange Clypse Moar Trust have lodged an appeal seeking to quash the order and grant a retrial.

It’s the latest twist in a long-running saga dating back to November 2016 when High Bailiff Needham, as he then was, found in favour of HSBC which was seeking repayment of a loan of £1.425m.

HSBC appointed joint receivers which have begun proceedings for the possession of The Grange, which is on Clypse Moar Road, Onchan.

Mr Alder was adjudicated bankrupt in 2018 over debts totalling almost £2.6m.

Having been occasional occupants of The Grange from November 1988, he and his family moved in on a permanent basis in July 1997, having relocated from England.

Mr Alder’s father set up a limited company incorporated in the Isle of Man to manage the family properties, both tenanted and untenanted. This became Clypse Estate Limited in 1988.

The freehold of the land passed to the Grange Trust following the death of Mr Alder’s father in 1981.

In his evidence to the high court, Mr Alder claimed Clypse Estate had taken over the tenancy of the land at The Grange in 1986 following the departure of the last tenant farmer.

He confirmed there was no written agreement but queried why you would need a contract with yourself.

He argued that The Grange was the nucleus of Clypse Estate’s farming operations and amounted to an agricultural holding under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1969.

But joint receivers of The Grange said no such protection could be proved.

The court heard that the seven acres currently had only very light agricultural usage.

In a judgment Deemster John Needham ruled that neither Mr Alder, Clypse Estate Limited or anyone else has the benefit of a protected tenancy or licence of The Grange under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1969.

Deemster Needham said that as a result, possession proceedings do not need to be stayed pending determination at the Land Court.

The appeal is listed to be heard on April 14 this year.

An application for the ’recusal’ of Mr Storey on the grounds he had ’passed adverse judgments’ in previous appeals was rejected by the appeal court.