Administrators appointed at Bolton property firm

Administrators have been called in at Harewood Associates, a property company in Bolton that had attracted £32m from investors, after it ran into financial difficulties.

The company, based on Chorley New Road, was founded in 2010 and had been offering returns of 8% on its housing projects. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph reported the company was offering “fixed returns” on property investment of up to 12%.

According to Companies House, its two active directors are David and Peter Kiely; the accounts dated for the year ending 31 December 2018 showed a pre-tax loss of £4.3m on a turnover of £1.7m. In its previous financial year, the company had reported a £4m pre-tax profit.

The company’s 2018 accounts also showed it owed £32.7m to its creditors. Projects it has delivered include a £2m restoration of the grade two-listed Hulme Hall in Allostock.

Paul Stanley and Dean Watson of Bebgies Traynor’s Manchester office have now been called in as administrators after the company ran into financial difficulties and was unable to meet some of its payments.

Stanley said: “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.”