Quantuma appointed administrator for Brighton short-lets agency

19 June 2019 Consultancy.uk

A short-term letting agency for holiday homes has closed its doors without warning, leaving holiday makers and landlords scrambling to recoup thousands of pounds from credit card companies. Brighton Holiday Homes became the third such company to collapse in the seaside town in the space of a month, following its appointment of administrators from Quantuma.

Established 14 years ago, Brighton Holiday Homes is a short-term lets company in Brighton. The company has not missed any of its Companies House filing deadlines and has been trading since 2008 after being set up by Director Neil Stonehill at an office in the popular Kemptown area of the city.

Despite this, the company appears to be the victim of a substantial downturn in holiday makers visiting the Brighton area, with Brighton Holiday Homes becoming the seaside city’s third short-term let accommodation firm to close its doors in June. Unfortunately, the company’s downfall came out of the blue for many customers, blindsiding holiday makers including dozens of stag and hen parties, as well as landlords owed tens of thousands of pounds, according to news site The Negotiator.

The company has emailed all its clients who have paid to book properties to say that their rentals have been cancelled and advising them to claim the money back through their credit card provider. Several of these customers have since contacted the BBC, however, to complain that they had paid significant sums to book accommodation for holidays as close as a week before Brighton Holiday Homes’ collapse, and had not been warned that the company was about to cease trading.

Following that, administrators were appointed as a result of action taken by a major creditor of the agency, almost a fortnight later. As reported by Letting Agent Today, Paul Zalkin and Maxine Reid of business advisory firm Quantuma have been appointed as joint administrators of Brighton Holiday Homes.

Zalkin issued a statement to Letting Agent Today saying, “Our immediate focus will be to contact the company’s directors so they can assist us in managing communications with customers who have been left out of pocket, with no explanation as to what has happened to their bookings… We will robustly investigate the company’s financial affairs and the circumstances leading up to its failure. At this early stage the situation is uncertain, but we will endeavour to secure the most positive outcome possible under difficult circumstances.”