A DEVON-based house-builder appears to be seeking a last-ditch rescue attempt after launching an effort to hire administrators.

Devonshire Homes Limited has lodged a Notice of Intention to appoint an administrator, a formal document that essentially gives it ten business days to find a way to save itself.

The move means that it doesn’t have to pay creditors for that ten-day period while it seeks a solution, which could involve securing external investment or selling assets to raise cash.

Devonshire Homes, which lists Ilfracombe, Bideford, Yelland and Bovey Tracey as locations of its current sites in Devon, suffered financial losses in its most recent accounts having secured more than £1.2m in pre-tax profits the prior year.

A major issue was caused by a costly foray into trying to build a type of home ‘outside its core strategy’.

The development in question was already partly built and split into two locations when Devonshire Homes purchased it, but it had a high proportion of timber frame, architect-designed, bespoke houses.

‘The group had not built such houses before and significantly underestimated the build costs to build the designs,’ the accounts for parent company London & Devonshire Trust Limited state.

‘This resulted in the site making a loss and the group considers that the site is a one-off and such sites will never be purchased again where the group does not utilise its own house types.”

It added that this loss would be ‘exceptional’ and so didn’t intend repeating the error.

The mistake accounted for just over £1.2 million in so-called exceptional items, weighing on profits at the company, which also has development sites in Wincanton, in Somerset, and Mabe and Penzance, in Cornwall.

Beyond this, the company said in its accounts, which cover the year to 30 September 2024, that it was reliant on a covenant breach being waived by Lloyds Bank in December 2025. Because the accounts were filed before that date, it is not clear what happened.

‘The waiver is subject to the bank being satisfied the directors have taken the appropriate actions to rightsize the business and that satisfactory trading performance is achieved,’ the accounts stated.

‘Whilst the directors are confident in achieving this, the waiver being granted is not guaranteed’.

The former Conservative MP for Wells, in Somerset, David Heathcoat-Amory, is now a non-executive director according to Devonshire Homes’ website, but was listed as chairman on the accounts that were published in October last year.

The Notice of Intent was filed on June 17, 2026, and the case is listed as active but no documents have yet been attached to the entry.

Devonshire Homes has been contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.