The House Crowd appoints administrators
On the 24th February 2020, Property peer to peer lender The House Crowd appointed Frank Ofonagoro, Jeremy Woodside and Frank Wessely at business advisory firm Quantuma as joint administrators of the Altrincham-headquartered business, with consent from the FCA.
The administration is not expected to have a material impact on investors/lenders. The joint administrators will continue the orderly wind down of the loan portfolio and the return of monies to lenders.
It is not yet clear how many of the firm’s 8 employees and 5 consultants will be affected by the administration, as well as the 15 developments being funded through the platform.
Founded in 2012, The House Crowd is a peer to peer lending platform, offering SME bridging loans secured against land or property. Investors are offered a range of products including Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISA), a 30 day ‘Fusion’ account and SIPP investments.
The firm has c.3,700 active investors on the platform and has to date funded more than 400 developments worth £123.9m.
On the 25 February Quantuma joint administrators were also appointed over House Crowd Property Management Limited, House Crowd Finance Limited, House Crowd Finance (Security Agent) Limited.
Frank Ofonagoro, director at Quantuma, said: “Due to ongoing financial issues facing the company, the directors resolved that it would be in the best interests of The House Crowd and its creditors and its loan investors, to appoint administrators.
Our priority will now be on securing the best possible outcome for all parties. Wherever possible, that includes the repatriation of client monies, completion of existing development builds, orderly wind down of loan books, and ultimately protecting the interest of investors and creditors.
We would urge all parties affected by this news, in the first instance, to visit the House Crowd website, where we have posted a series of FAQs.”