A HOUSING company which managed more than 1,000 properties in Burnley will face a bankruptcy hearing later this month.

Practical Property Portfolio (PPP) folded last month following an investigation by the police and the Department for Trade and Industry.

The company charged private landlords a sum in the region of £24,000 for properties they promised to buy, renovate and find tenants for.

Representatives from the group are due to appear for a bankruptcy hearing at the High Court in London on June 18.

The collapse has left concerned residents from the Accrington Road and Burnley Wood areas, where PPP managed the bulk of their business in the town, wanting to know what will happen to the houses the company managed. Trinity councillor Carole Galbraith, said: "When something like this happens it makes people feel very anxious.

"People who own houses in areas where PPP bought a lot of properties will be worried about what is going to happen to them.

"People who own houses would like to think that companies will invest in the area and therefore improve the area and the house prices. They will be worried that the collapse of this company will have an adverse affect on their own houses and the area they live in."

A spokesman for Burnley Council's housing department said it was giving advice to property owners who had invested in PPP.

The council's housing department has taken more than 200 calls from investors since the collapse of PPP, many from people living outside the town.