A dramatic intervention is threatening to halt the commercial sale of Queen’s Club in West London ? the cornerstone of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)’s plans to leave its premises there and relocate late next year to a ?38million National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

The LTA was planning to reduce the number of prospective purchasers of a club it has owned since 1952 to two or three next month, announcing the winner in early February. It recently emphasised the “high-quality bids” for the club, initially put on the market for ?40million. But there has been an extraordinary belated twist in the tale of a sale that has progressed against a backdrop of plot and subplot.

In a letter to the directors of Queen’s Club Limited (QCL) that has been shown to The Times, Peter Begg, a solicitor and a member of the club for the past 40 years, has indicated that “assurances given and arrangements entered” between the LTA and QCL directors and shareholders in 1953 and 1996 “preclude the possibility of a commercial sale by QCL/LTA to a third party along the lines currently contemplated”.

Begg wrote: “If that is right (and like most members I have an incomplete understanding of the position), it would follow that the QCL/LTA may have no right to dispose of a long lease ? in this case 120 years ? or of any other interest in the club’s business and assets, to any third party and the present auction should be discontinued.”

At the heart of the matter lies evidence that is alleged to be housed in the Queen’s Club archives and upon which, according to Begg’s letter, the members’ bid consortium will be allowed to carry out due diligence only if and when it emerges as the preferred bidder at the end of the second round.