Property investment firm collapses into administration

By Bridging Loan Directory 4th June 2019

Administrators have been appointed to Harewood Associates Limited, a Bolton based property investment company.

The company, which is based on Chorley New Road in Bolton, was established in 2010 and invested into several house building projects on behalf of around 1,400 investors and recently offered returns of 8%.

Turnover recorded by the company in the year ended 31 December 2018 was £1.6 million with investor funds of over £32 million being invested.

Paul Stanley and Dean Watson of Begbies Traynor in Manchester were appointed as joint administrators on Friday 31 May 2019.

Paul Stanley, pictured, regional managing partner at Begbies Traynor, said:

“The company ran into financial difficulties and was unable to meet some payments. Consequently, we were appointed as joint administrators on Friday afternoon.

“We are at the very early stages of assessing the situation. The directors are fully cooperating with the administrators and we will be contacting all creditors to update them on the matter within the next few days as obliged under insolvency law.

“At this stage there is no firm information on the viability of the various investments and consequently, it is not possible to comment on the level of losses likely to be suffered by investors.

“Investors will naturally be concerned to know whether their investments are protected if there are deficiencies. It’s my understanding that the business was unregulated and therefore any individual investor losses are unlikely to be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”

Given the number of investors, and volume of calls received already, the administrators are not in a position to speak to each investor individually.

A dedicated phone line (0161) 837 1819 has been set up by Begbies Traynor where key updates will be provided.

As soon as there is anything tangible to report, details will be uploaded to a dedicated portal on the Begbies Traynor website and details of the link will be provided to investors in the initial letter which will be sent out shortly.