Neum Insolvency, which had been advising Ash Residential Property Management (ARPM), the defunct outsourced lettings management company headed by Simon Duce, is no longer acting in the liquidation process, after being replaced.

Creditors have agreed to appoint a new insolvency practitioner, Oxford-based Anthony Batty & Co, to handle the liquidation of ARPM. The change does not come as a surprise.

Property Industry Eye revealed last month that following a recent meeting of creditors of ARPM, the insolvency firm that had been handling the liquidation of the business was to be replaced.

It is well-known that a number of the 70 or so letting agency firms, who are creditors of ARPM, were extremely unhappy at the appointment of Neum, headed up by founder Umang Patel, last year, and it is believed that it is this group of agents that has forced the change.

The collapse of ARPM ‘is a potential Armageddon for the lettings industry’