John Nightingale, 68, is at the centre of a long-running dispute involving the now-defunct Tenet Network, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and a claims management company (CMC).

The case stems from pension transfer advice Mr Nightingale gave to a client in 1997, when he recommended moving a defined benefit pension scheme.

Mr Nightingale’s client is said to have been in ill health and wanted advice on how to transfer his pension to make sure that, if he died before retirement, the pot would be paid to his estate.

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The client did not complain at the time and, despite considering a complaint when they retired in 2008, they only raised the issue in 2021, after being contacted by a CMC.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) handbook, under DISP 2.8.2, the Ombudsman cannot consider a complaint if the complainant refers it more than six years after the event, or, if later, three years from the date on which they became aware they had cause for complaint.

Tenet Network Services, Mr Nightingale’s former network, initially dismissed the complaint in 2021, informing the CMC it believed there were no grounds for a claim.

However, Mr Nightingale, who stopped financial advising in 2010, says the network’s response did not include the ‘prescribed wording’ required to prevent the Ombudsman from reviewing it.

The CMC then referred the case to the Ombudsman.

A Crowdfunder has been set up to help Mr Nightingale in his battle to keep his home.

Click here to see the fundraiser

Mr Nightingale was not involved in defending the complaint and then was suddenly told in 2023 that Tenet liquidators wanted £155,000 to cover the claim they paid out.

Mr Nightingale said he has been unable to raise the issue with the Ombudsman because they request a DRN code, a reference number, which he says does not exist.

He says there is no record of the complaint on the FOS website and he hasn’t been able to speak to anyone about it.

He and his wife have lived in their house in Sandown for over 40 years, which is now at risk of being lost.

Mr Nightingale said he has spent around £20,000 in legal fees since 2023, and has suffered “many sleepless nights” trying to find someone in a position of power who will listen.

“It is just so, so confusing and wrong on so many levels,” he said.

“I’m struggling to know where to go. It’s costing us a fortune to speak to solicitors, it’s a nightmare.

“Everybody else that I’ve spoken to, current and ex financial advisors and the man of the street, are all thinking this is madness – and it is!”

A Crowdfunder has been set up and Mr Nightingale said he was sceptical at first: “I was expecting to get around £7.50, if I’m honest.”

But within a day, a donation of £1,000 arrived from Chancery Lane Income Planners in London, with the message: “This has to stop.”

So far, more than £5,700 has been raised.

“I’m just amazed that people have donated, and if more people could, we might end up saving the house,” Mr Nightingale said.

For now, Mr Nightingale says he is fighting to hold onto his home and to ensure that other financial advisors, many of whom may be long retired, are not left in the same position.