Landlord Action, a company specialising in tenant eviction and troubleshooting throughout the UK, has recently reported that their debt recovery department has never been busier due to pursuing rogue property sourcing and investment companies. Worryingly there are an increasing number of companies who have been asking for upfront fees to source below market value deals and marketing property deals that, once surveyed for mortgage purposes, are figures far short of the original claim. Companies then refuse to refund fees so investors employ the services of Landlord Action to help recover their monies.
Paul Shamplina, Director of Landlord Action comments: “As the market climate has changed some companies are struggling financially and are using investor deposits to fund their business operations rather than holding funds on deposits to be returned if deals do not happen. Therefore, we are seeing an increase in the number of instructions for individuals and companies who it seems have been ripping off investors by supplying ‘bogus discount deals’. The industry needs to be governed to include a code of conduct in regards to these companies, working closely with the FSA.”
One such company, one that Landlord Action have issued a number of legal proceedings against, the Ahuja Group, are certainly one of these firms where clients have discovered that many of the deals they promoted were an illusion. One private investor found herself the victim of the Ahuja Group when she brought a deal at £3,000 that she thought fitted her investment criteria. The value of the property was supposed to be £100,000 with a monthly rental income of £1,541. Once the survey had been completed the valuation came in at £72,000 and the rental figure at just £375, a figure far off what had been originally claimed. Landlord Action was instructed and a claim for £4,816 including legal costs was proceeded with via the Small Claims Court. This was ignored so, eventually, the court appointed sheriffs to place ‘notice to remove’ on three cars at the directors home address. With no payment still received they returned and seized one of the cars. The investor in question has now received payment in full.
Shamplina says: “These rogue sourcing companies are often unwilling to release many details on the property so investors need to research themselves into the property values, rental prices and the level of demand in the area. As well as this I would highly recommend that investors research the sourcing company itself via its trading record and look at its auditing history. Also, although not guaranteed, listen to other investor’s recommendations. There is a good chance the company is reputable if others have received a good level of service. My final advice, when going through with a deal, is to double check the terms and conditions and keep in regular contact with the company in question.”
Landlord Action
Free property management software, Free tenancy agreements
Dear Fellow Property Investor,
ReplyDeleteRe: Recent Negative Press On The Ahuja Group
I am sorry I have to be writing to you under these circumstances however there have been certain forum postings and newspaper article about my organisation and I wish to set the record straight.
On 7th December 2008 we hit the FRONT PAGE of the Mail on Sunday and they referred to me as the Repo Hunter. The article centered around a repossession list released by Northern Rock or someone close to Northern Rock.
I was one of many property sourcers who got this list, however the Mail on Sunday decided to write an article about my organisation and how we offered the properties on this list to my clients.
The article portrayed the fact that I was cashing in on people’s misery and hard working individuals were losing their home to greedy vulture buy to let investors including me!
To read the article search “ajay ahuja daily mail” in google and it will come up
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/article.html?in_article_id=459029&in_page_id=8
But before you do that please carry on reading below.
This article was not the most flattering of articles and resulted in us being open for attack by:
• Our competitors
• Other media organisations
• Members of the public
I can stand up and say we do not trade in people’s misery. We find properties that meet a certain pricing criteria and we do not force people out of their homes. If anyone does the forcing it is the banks themselves.
Due to the Mail on Sunday’s article The Ahuja Group is now all of a sudden newsworthy! They aligned my small business with a £100bn publicly owned financial institution Northern Rock. As flattering as that is if there is any situation where anyone has had a less than brilliant experience with us then it is potentially worth writing about. This has certainly been the case. The Repo Hunter is being hunted! Their motives being:
• Financial gain
• Competitive advantage
• Maliciousness
Now we are a small company (with big aspirations!) and our margins do not allow for a full time press, media and legal department to defend ourselves every time a not so positive article or forum posting is written. However the wheels are in motion to recruit a locum solicitor to help out as and when the need arises.
We have decided to focus on providing damn good property deals for our large and diverse client base of 600. We will occasionally put out statements such as these to redress the balance however we want to channel our energies on pleasing our current client base. This may be a mistake on our part but until then we want to provide value to our clients as we have always done.
If you wish to read some positive news from people who have had an experience in one form or another with The Ahuja Group please read our testimonials page:
http://www.ahuja.co.uk/free-resources/testimonials/
These are real people who have attended on of our many FREE seminars, bought a training package or received property deals from us.
I hope this gives you a balanced view on our organisation and I hope we can find you a property deal or two in the future!
All the best.
Ajay