Property Maintenance: Hampshire

Perhaps one of the unintended consequences of an apparent stalemate in the UK residential and commercial property market is that more people are turning to letting, especially in cities like London, with the demand for rental properties hitting an all time high.

More tenants in more rented accommodation requires more maintenance. Property maintenance often requires the engagement of a number of companies delivering a range of different services. These can include specialists in air conditioning, plumbing, electrical wiring, roofing, locksmiths, boarding, glazing and general refurbishment. More often than not a property management company is employed to co-ordinate the delivery of these services. They will look after an individual building or an entire estate of properties for a particular landlord.

The difficulty in managing so many diverse relationships is not hard to imagine. Few property management companies will have all of these services in-house, so outsourcing is essential. The danger is that companies can become quickly overstretched, much like in the case of Cura Property Maintenance Limited.

Based in Gosport, Hampshire, Cura specialises in reactive property maintenance and had built a solid business with an annual turnover of £1,800,000. Unfortunately, in focusing so hard on its service delivery it had taken its eye off its cashflow, and very quickly ran up debts of more than £300,000. Help was needed, and help was found in the form of SFP’s Daniel and Simon Plant – both licensed members of the Insolvency Practitioners’ Association – who were appointed Joint Administrators on 23rd February.

In just a few days, the Partners had brokered a deal with existing management to ensure that Cura could continue to trade from a more stable platform. It had also ensured that all of the 23 staff kept their jobs.