Phil Whitehouse, head of The Mortgage Alliance (TMA), offers some advice for those intermediaries looking at their regulatory options.

It seems that one of the few growth areas as a result of the recent financial turmoil is being an administrator. From football clubs through to sectors in the mortgage market the word administrator has unfortunately become something of a far too common word. The growth in the ‘popularity’ of the administrator’s services appears to know no bounds. In fact Portsmouth Football Club’s administrator Andrew Andronikou appears to have generated almost as much press coverage himself as Pompey’s run to the recent FA cup final. The unbelievable sight of him signing autographs some weeks ago just goes to show how high profile such an ‘event’ has become.

Turning our attentions back to the mortgage market and the past few weeks have seen the trials and tribulations of Home of Choice and that dreaded word administration again. LSL Property Services has since subsequently confirmed that it has bought the assets of Home of Choice for £1.5 million. In an announcement on the London Stock Exchange it said: “The business is being acquired from administrators and is not expected to have a material impact on the group’s earnings line in 2010.””