PropertySCAM - fighting the blight of green belt land plot sales

Landbanking: the plots thicken

PropertySCAM — Sat, 7 Nov 2009 10:35:26 +0100

Double, treble or multiply your money even further – and all within a few years. It sounds an ideal alternative to low-interest savings and high-risk shares, especially, as the promoters point out, "They're not making land any more".

Gains like these are held out by "landbankers", unregulated firms that buy land without planning permission to sell to investors in small slices. Purchasers are led to expect the field will get the go-ahead for housing development, seeing it explode in value.

But the winners are the promoters rather than the investors. Typically, landbankers buy land for under �10,000 an acre and then cut it up into plots of one-tenth of an acre. They sell these plots to investors for �8,000 to �16,000 each – earning them around �80,000 to �160,000 an acre.

(Via The Guardian. To read the full story, click here)

Two directors disqualified over �5m scam

PropertySCAM — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:57:08 +0100

Two former directors of Hambrook and Greenstock AG have been disqualified for 12 years, after admitting to deceiving UK investors in a �5m scam.

The two Swiss-based company directors, Andres Schenker and Claudia Daxelhoffer, deceived UK investors into paying more than �5m in a 'land-banking' scam.

(Via FT Adviser. To read the full story, click here)

Don't bank on landing a fortune with land banks

PropertySCAM — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Specialists in the property industry are warning consumers to be wary of companies selling plots of farmland that they claim will soar in value if reclassified for housing.

Speculation about housing shortages and government-funded building programmes has led to a sharp rise in the number of sales of plots to amateur investors this year.

Companies known as land bankers buy cheap farmland near built-up areas, usually for no more than �5,000 an acre, even though it is zoned as green belt and has no planning permission for development. They then repackage the land into small parcels, sometimes of only a tenth of an acre, which are sold at up to 20 times their original purchase price.

(Via the Guardian. To read the full story, click here)

Director of land banking company gets seven year ban

PropertySCAM — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:12:51 +0100

The former boss of a land banking company has been disqualified as a director for seven years following a Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) investigation.

(Via Planning Resource. To read the full story, search here)
(See also: Director banned over land sales @ the Telegraph)

(If you have had any dealings with Land Banking (UK), please get in touch via email or post a comment.)

Land registry publishes warning on land bank investment schemes

PropertySCAM — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Land Registry has published a guide warning against so-called land banking investment schemes which are often advertised as offering big returns on investments in land.

The government department says many investors have handed over thousands of pounds for land that has little or no chance of being developed.

Plots of land are offered for sale, often online, and sometimes with the claim that there will be huge returns when planning permission is obtained for housing or other development. But the land is usually in areas protected from development by planning law.

(Via Land Registry. To read the full press release, click here)
(See also Land Registry Public Guide 21 - Land banking schemes – buying land in England and Wales claimed or thought to have development potential)

Malaysia: Companies Commission Raids Three Companies Over Illegal Land Investments

PropertySCAM — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) today raided three companies suspected of offering investments in illegal land investment schemes.

The raids were conducted simultaneously at the UK Land International (M) Sdn Bhd, Profitable Plots Sdn Bhd and Edgeworth Properties (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

The companies had allegedly contravened sections 94 and 363 of the Companies Act 1965.

In a statement, SSM said it had conducted surveillance on the companies over the past couple of months.

(Via Malaysian National News Agency. To read the full story, click here)

Investors face battle for cash after ‘field of dreams’ firm goes bankrupt

PropertySCAM — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 11:54:35 +0100

Investors who bought plots of Finchampstead farmland on the basis of exaggerated claims they could triple their money are facing an uphill struggle to get their money back.

The investors, mostly from overseas, bought plots of land at Church Farm in Finchampstead Road for up to �20,500 from landbanking company UK Land Investments (UKLI).

However, an investigation by administrators winding up the activities of UKLI has found the land was in fact owned by another company, Regents Land, and was one of four sites in the UK owned by the firm which attracted hundreds of investors.

(Via The Wokingham Times. To read the full story, click here)

Did you buy Finchampstead land from landbanking firm?

PropertySCAM — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:04:25 +0100

If you are one of the people who bought a plot of land off Finchampstead Road in Finchampstead from UKLI, The Wokingham Times wants to hear from you.

Call on (0118) 9366 188 or email.

Thank you.

Landbanks taken down

PropertySCAM — Sat, 9 Aug 2008 09:11:46 +0100

A group of landbanking companies that sold sites where "there was no prospect of planning permission being obtained" has been would wound up in the public interest following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

Cheltenham-based Land International and three subsidiaries, all controlled by Michael John Morris, 60, and Stephen Nicholas Meissner, 45, began trading in early 2004 when they bought greenbelt land. It was subdivided into plots of around a tenth of an acre which were sold to some 700 investors, pulling in an estimated �10m.

(Via The Guardian. To read the full story, click here)

UKLI founder selling more fields of unlikely dreams

PropertySCAM — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 12:57:28 +0100

The founder of a landbanking company that Guardian Money first featured three years ago, and which has left a �70m trail of debt, has reopened for business in Dubai, selling plots of land in Kent it calls Canary City to unsuspecting investors.

BBC Radio 4's Face the Facts will show how Baljinder Chohan, founder and owner of UKLI, has moved his operation from Berkeley Square in London to Dubai, and continues to sell the dream of turning tiny slices of agricultural land into sites with planning permission worth a fortune.

(Via The Guardian. To read the full story, click here)