Beech Holdings (Manchester) Ltd – Currently Under Investigation

Beech Holdings (Manchester) Ltd (now called Manchester Property Developments Holdings Ltd) is a company self-described as a prominent residential developer and operator with a rich 20-year history in the field. Stephen Jonathan Beech holds the position of Director and is the sole shareholder.

An issue has arisen concerning Loan Note Holders who entrusted their investments with Beech Holdings as far back as 2015. To their dismay, these investors have yet to receive any interest payments or redemptions on their investments. The situation escalated in 2021 when a special resolution was passed, extending the redemption date of these investments to 2024.

Despite efforts made by investors to seek clarification and updates on their investments, attempts to contact both Joseph Swartz, the Investment Director at Beech Holdings, and Stephen Beech, have been fruitless with no responses to enquiries.

Repeated delays for the completion of apartments  has created a myriad of problems for purchasers including additional costs and loss of rental income.  

We’ve become aware that several loan note holders are encountering challenges in receiving returns on their investments. Some affected individuals have been in touch with us and we are actively investigating this matter. If you hold a loan note with Beech Holdings or have purchased a property off plan and are experiencing similar issues, we urge you to get in touch with us via email at investigations@insolvencyandlaw.co.uk or by calling us at 02075041300.

These are some reviews about the company, verbatim:

1.

I have some loan notes with beech holdings, an investment product.

I cannot recommend that you get involved with this company as they have not paid me the interest due.
I had contacted Stephen Beech, the owner and Oliver Wright, head of investments and more recently Joseph Schwartz to try and find out what has happened. I was the told they had set up an ADP to recover my monies and the deadline for this has changed at least once. The last correspondence I had from this company was over a year ago despite me chasing by email.

BEECH HOLDINGS HAVE JUST IGNORED MY EMAILS SENT BY ME AND NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN FORTHCOMING.

BEWARE OF BEECH HOLDINGS

2.

  I am sharing my recent experience with Beech Holdings, Manchester, regarding a 1-bedroom flat in Ancoats development that I aimed to invest in. I intend to share this to guide others who might find themselves in a similar situation.

While I was aware that the £5,000 reservation fee for the flat was non-refundable, James Webster of Beech Holdings personally assured me that a refund would be provided if my mortgage application was rejected. Relying on his promises, I went ahead with the reservation, only to have my application subsequently rejected. The reason given was the building’s overpopulation with students – a crucial fact conveniently omitted from our initial discussions by James Webster, who had sold me the property.

Upon the rejection of my mortgage application, I was abruptly handed over to Sarah Bourne of Beech Holdings. Her approach was not only unhelpful but also lacking in understanding. She introduced an unexpected refund condition, stating that a refund would only be considered if I faced ‘four’ rejections, a term that had never been communicated to me at any point. To make matters worse, after my initial application, lenders altered their stress level tests and increased their deposit requirements, effectively leaving me without any suitable mortgage options available.

My takeaway from this experience is stark – do not hand over a reservation fee to Beech Holdings unless you are prepared to lose it. Their handling of my situation suggests that they’re a company willing to make up rules to fit their agenda, and their customer service leaves much to be desired.

I hope my review offers some insight for anyone considering investing in a property in Manchester, particularly through Beech Holdings.

3.

  Couple issues make it difficult for me to recommend Beech Holdings if you are into acquiring apts for rental and I have let my circle know to avoid this. Each of these issues would in itself be fatal not to mention they compounded.

Repeated delays. The completion of my apartment at Ancoats Gardens is delayed for over a year. I had to order multiple searches and have to bear with the raising mortgage interest, making it nearly 2.5x more expensive to run this rental. Although the dev wants to say these delays aren’t caused by them that isn’t true. A lot of delays could have been avoided if Beech Holdings took initiatives and plan in advance rather than passively waiting. This shows the lack of experience in handling full building construction and lack of consideration for its clients.

Overly buffed estimates. Some level of salesperson talk is expected for their trade but it is a totally different story if you told your investors a “realistic” / “conservative” rent of a 2000+ per month and in fact targeting to rent out at 1600.

Ridiculous service charge. During marketing the service charge is set to be 3.2 per sq and the salesperson told me this is the firm number while right now they are charging 5.61 per sq for service charge. If you are into apt rentals, you know how crazy they are. For this one I am planning to take on further action.

Notice to complete w/o closing statement. Notice to complete is normally due 15 working days prior to completion and be accompanied by the closing statement. Beech Holdings sent me closing statement on the last day of the notice (i.e. the targeted completion date). This is a strong no for oversea investors who need to convert currencies as it means you would lose the 15-working day window to arbitrage EX rate. This alone costs me over 1000 not to mention how inconsiderate it is.

Management terms. I have never seen a management company “brave” enough to want a five-year management term at the PM fee they are charging. This is another way to screw oversea investors if they aren’t familiar with UK laws. Come on, by laws landlords could terminate management company at will if the premise is vacant and without in-place AST. What is even more interesting is they keep making the PM agreement worse during the period they sent me draft agreements for signature.

For me, #1 is a mistake that newbie or sometimes experienced dev would make, but everyone makes mistakes. #2 is unethical. #3 demonstrates characters and tanks their credibility to zero. #4 shows they don’t really care about oversea investors as they claim to be. #5 shows investors are their opponents, not their teammates.