Habitus Placed into Administration

DEAs urged to honour work

Submitted by: MikeC (Admin) on 30-Nov-07 09:14:47 PM

Habitus Surveyors Limited have today been placed into Administration.

According to an email sent by Brendan Doyle - Habitus CEO - the action was necessary because of a failure to raise additional funding to sustain the business any longer.

From Monday (3rd December), Administrators will assume responsibility for salary payments and the restructuring of Habitus as a going-concern.

Directors are said to be working over the weekend to source other avenues of funding before Monday.

In the meantime, Habitus DEAs are being urged to honour any EPC work that comes their way.

A brief (recent) history

Over the last few weeks the company has been forced to make over 70 of its Domestic Energy Assessors redundant.

On the 19th of November Habitus appointed crisis management consultants, Interco Associates, to ward-off creditors until the Govt announced 1 and 2 bed HIPs.

Interco wrote to Habitus creditors stating that payments would "commence promptly as soon as the [HIPs] go-ahead facilitates this."

Days later the Govt announced that HIPs would go-ahead from December 14th - This presumably placed Habitus under immediate pressure to resume payments to creditors.

But with the actual requirement for HIPs on 1 & 2 beds not becoming mandatory until 14th December - and with no First Day Marketing until June 2008 - there was clearly little confidence a seasonally quiet - and "credit-crunched" - housing market could sustain the company any longer without an additional cash-injection.

It is thought around 140 existing staff are effected by today's news.

Posts: 8

Re: DEAs urged to honour work
Reply #1 on : Fri November 30, 2007, 23:24:40

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Well considering there lack of communication with those of us that they have made redundant, im not suprised, couldnt of happened to a nicer company.

Maybe peter dale and lorraine who never replied to our emails / phone calls, understand now what position theve left us lot in.

Posts: 8

Run a Business like a Business
Reply #2 on : Sat December 01, 2007, 11:16:23

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While all HIP related companies have been affected by government indecision, some have proliferated and many failed.
Going for a high risk employee strategy, was a big risk, potentially big reward.
However, this process needs to be managed and run like a business, with agressive marketing and large new business contracts.
The way the company was run means that this day was inevitable and only a matter of time.
There are not only 170 people affected by this..also the hundreds of others who were stalled in the training process to reduce expenditure....have paid for training, and have not received anything in the way of income....but just wasted several months and £2-3000.
Still owed £2500 from Habitus....should imagine, that is money I can kiss goodbye to!

Hope everyone can put this down to experience and deal with the repercussions,

thanks,
Also Anonymous

Posts: 8

investment
Reply #3 on : Sat December 01, 2007, 14:43:42

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As a franchisee i invested a huge amount of time and money into Habitus only to be continually lied to and fobbed off when asking questions the goal post of what we were actually selling changed so many times that I no longer knew. i have seen this coming for months with the refusals of directors to talk to us and provide a clear picture they have left us all in huge amounts of debt. I myself have lost more than 2 years earnings. that is about 5 years earnings for someone on a UK average wage.

The decision for Habitus to take on DEAs while franchisees had invested huge amounts of money to get the work that was then being given to DEAs was wrong to begin with. promises were all lies. they took our money went on a huge spending spree and fled.

legal action against them is required. and I think a join legal action against the governmnent is the way all affected by the lack of the government to stick to their guns is required by this industry. they destroyed us lets destroy them

Posts: 8

Re: DEAs urged to honour work
Reply #4 on : Sat December 01, 2007, 18:19:24

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Boo Hoo Boo Hoo i will be crying all the way to the bank. I'm looking for a new car what do you think i should get a porsche or a an Audi R8. If any of the franchisee's have experience with these two motor's pleaswe e-mail me,don't phone.

Posts: 8

Get on with it.
Reply #5 on : Sun December 02, 2007, 12:02:05

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We all went for the money, it went tits up don't bleat about it. Whilst the business may not now survive the industry is still in it's fledgling stage and all of us involved are still in pole postion to make the most of the opportunity independantly. Lick your wounds and get on with it otherwise you can only blame yourselves.

Posts: 8

Its time for the independents
Reply #6 on : Tue December 04, 2007, 10:42:50

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I agree with the last post, I do understand and sympathise with those people that are/were with Habitus, but now is the time to do the footwork, send out the emails, send out the mailshots.

Habitus wanted to make it big, so started big, but unfortunatley, thay have gone belly up. Now is the time to think about getting the customers they have lost. Its true about this career being in the fledgling stage, and its in the next few months that its all going to kick off.

I for one, can see work increasing each month, if it keeps going the way it has done for the last 3 months, I see Feb/March when the money will really be rolling in. As an independent, I have regained my training money now with jobs completed.

Now its time to make my training work for me and the more people out there that know I exist as a DEA, the more work I can see coming in.

Also, bear in mind, all these conveyancing agents are now relising that its not just the large HIP providers providing HIPs, but its also the DEAs who can do this as well, but we can do it a little cheaper. This is what alot of agents in my area have just found out.

[Edited for formatting only]

Last Edit: December 04, 2007, 16:45:02 by admin  

Posts: 8

Habitus - First of Many
Reply #7 on : Tue December 04, 2007, 17:31:50

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One down! How many more to go? HIPS are a failure and should be scrapped. I am sorry for all those who have invested in them. No one but the HIP industry sees any value in them and if the public cant see it then it's a lost cause. A change of government and bang!Good bye and good riddance HIPS!!

Posts: 8

Habitus salaries - another lie
Reply #8 on : Fri December 14, 2007, 18:08:05

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Administrators have confirmed they are paying no salaries and staff have receievd packs from Habitus enclosing a claim form to be submitted to the government's fighting fund for failed businesses - max benefit is £310 per week. So Habitus once again distribute lies - this is on top of sacking staff by phone in many cases and without paying any salary for the excessive hours they were encouraged to work throughout November - as encouraged by Mr Doyle to help the company. Now we know who was getting the help -Doyle and his cronies - so the staff -and no doubt the DEAs - all left high and dry, while Habitus has creamed of a small fortune which appears to evaporated - I wonder where!.