Following on from the tv program last night and the comment placed by Property Sparrow on my previous post regarding the poor landlord who bought seven investment flats in Manchester.
The poor landlord featured was fooled by the world of the hard sell property sales team.
The success of all these so called property seminars has been the way they 'hot house' attendees and over the course of a day or two convince people with historic data that property is a 'no lose' situation.
(by the way our advice at property hawk is never go to a property seminar about making money out of property - property is not rocket science, you can learn all you need to know by reading the content of this website and maybe a few books, know your area and your market - do your research and then do more research, followed by a bit more research - to put it into political speak - Its Research, Research, Research - anyway back to the post! )
Which of course it was 5-10 years ago which is where the majority of the property buying seminars anecdotal evidence comes from. Back then it was a no-brainer (as the yanks like to say),I spent my time telling everyone I knew to buy property.
But for the last five years I have told everyone to proceed with caution.
It's easy to say that this poor woman was stupid, and Im sure she would be the first to hold her hands up for it.
But the darker truth is that she was 'mis-sold' property and really the likes of the FSA should be looking into this mis-selling.
However a lot of the mis-selling has involved in some way or other the large house builders and the government is in fear of upsetting the housebuilders especially as their supposed housebuilding targets are already in meltdown.
Interesting times.
If you feel you have been mis-sold property please post and share your thoughts.
HAWKEYE
Specialist Landlord Insurance Brokers
My husband and I feel strongly that we were mis sold on the purchase of a Manchester City Centre apartment. We exchanged contracts in March last year having fallen for the sales pitch. No 'downside' was ever even hinted at and we believed the rosy picture of abundant high calibre tenants and unfailing capital growth. Our questions concerning worries about 'oversupply' were met with - 'thats not here -it's just on the outskirts of Manchester'. The reality is that completion is now looming the property as fallen in value by 18% (conservatively I think) and we are unlikely to get the buy-to-let mortgage we need at an affordabe price, if at all. The achievable rental is far less than we were told and tenants thin on the ground. We are just ordinary people who were trying to build a pension - not just looking for a quick fix. This situation is not just down to market forces. The apartment was overpriced in the first place and the rentability over-rated.
ReplyDeleteNo 'warning' or counter indication is given in any of the literature, adverts or websites - just a disclaimer hidden in the terms and conditions on the website.
We can not and do not wish to complete on this sale.
Perhaps we have been naive and should have questioned a lot deeper - but we are just ordinary people and surely deserve some level of protection from these sale techniques.
We would welcome the opportunity to hear from other people in this situation and look to form an action group.
I am in exactly that boat. Two flats, two different issues. Snowed under but will come back on and write more later. See my postings on property hawk landlord zone under over valuation and discount apartments
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat. I bought a flat this time last year that is due to complete in the coming summer. I now believe that the property value was deliberately over-stated. For an investment firm to give advice they have to be regulated by the FSA. Surely these firms should fall under the same bracket? Is there no way these firms can be pursued legally? I am not going to be able to complete on my property as things stand.
ReplyDeleteMy son bought a flat off plan in Liverpool. Paid £190,000 and one year later (2007) asked the same company to market it and they valued it at £150000. The drop they claimed was due to the property market which by the way had fallen at that time by 0.07%!!!! Is there anyone we can go to.
ReplyDeleteOver the next 12 months they will all be saying the same thing, the drop in value is due to a downturn in the market. This is factually incorrect, although market conditions obviously play their part. Surely it comes down to WHO valued the property from the outset and whether they deliberately mis-represented the value. Who can investigate such matters? I am in the same position (Manchester).
ReplyDeleteI think it is worth writing to the FSA about the mis-selling of property by developers with RICS surveyors in their pockets.
ReplyDeleteIt warrants an investigation.
Do landlords/ users think it would be worth housing a petition in Property Hawk to bring the views together of landlords who feel they have been mis-sold new property by developers?
Hi
ReplyDeleteI to am in a similar situation I was told that the developer would pay my 10% deposit and that I would have a 90% mortgage, 2 months after the deal went through I lost my job and asked for an agent to value it they told me it was valued at about 10% below the mortgage value, this was back in 2006 during the still booming market. I could not afford to sell so spent savings etc to keep the house going as the rent I got did not cover the mortgage, now 2 years later I have been told that the property is worth a fraction of what I paid for it and I am now in the process of being made bankrupt due to mortgage defaults etc. There must be somewhere we can go to challenge this, if banks can get done for misselling loan insurance, surely this can be challenged. I know a lot of the debt centers have heard 100's if not thousands of similar cases as everytime I speak to them they can pretty much tell me my whole story without me saying a word
Interesting story in today's sunday times. A legal firm in Leeds are issuing group litigation (on behalf of over 100 clients) against a Mr Morris (& his company) & a number of conveyancers, for deliberately over-inflating property prices to sell them on as buy to let investments. All investors appear to be in the same position, in that their investments are worth a fraction of what they have paid in the recent past. This is not just simply due to the downturn in the market. Consumers were duped into buying by false, mis-represented advertising.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the above case will draw even more attention to the subject. What has become clear is that this issue has affected thousands of innocent people. Ironically, I thought that putting my money in property was safer than putting it into the stock market. I am going to be in the position that I cannot complete (when built in 6 months) and risk legal action from the developer.
Having browsed the internet to find similar cases to my own I have come across your website and it was a bit of a relief that I am not the only one (sorry I know that sounds bad).
ReplyDeleteI also found a Missold Mortgages website that seems to promise alot. Any =one dealt with similar services before?
Me and many others were mis-sold a room in a hotel by a big developer 5 years ago. They assured that there will be finance available for such properties. Today when we need to complete contracts no one is willing to finance. We are going to lose the deposit and more.
ReplyDeleteAnyone involved in Flint Glass, Manchester should go here...
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/flintglass/