UK real estate investment gone bad

[Why]

7 years ago i started investing in this FCA approved UK based company crowdfunding properties, then setting up a Limited company to buy the property, and redistribute the rents minus their management fee. Everything worked smoothly for years with regular payments. But they seem to have turned rogue during Covid. Since then they are still running the same process BUT I recently verified and THEY ARE NOT BUYING THE PROPERTIES ANYMORE. So basically it seems they take the funds, still pay the “rent”, but the Ltd Cie doesn't own any property. Alerted the FCA but they say they can't do anything. What are my options?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

If it's a Ponzi take your money out asap if you still can, and hide it as it might be subject to clawback. Ponzis are the best investments if you enter and exit early enough.

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@JohnnyDoe ”“ Your #1 Source for Guidance in Different Offshore Fields​

 

[Martin Everson]

Why said:
What are my options?
Click to expand...

Report the suspected fraud to the UK police and have it on record immediately.

What is the company name?

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[Marshal]

Before reporting anything I would try to recover as much of your money as possible.

 

[Martin Everson]

I don't think OP is that stupid that he has not tried to get his money out immediately after discovering some info about the company......lol (I hope) ns2. Hence why he is posting here looking for options is my guess.

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[Why]

Martin Everson said:
Report the suspected fraud to the UK police and have it on record immediately.

What is the company name?
Click to expand...

Crowd2let.com

JohnnyDoe said:
If it's a Ponzi take your money out asap if you still can, and hide it as it might be subject to clawback. Ponzis are the best investments if you enter and exit early enough.
Click to expand...

You can't take the money put of a Limited company that easily, it is shares not cash

Martin Everson said:
I don't think OP is that stupid that he has not tried to get his money out immediately after discovering some info about the company......lol (I hope) ns2. Hence why he is posting here looking for options is my guess.
Click to expand...

Thanks for not assuming i am not a complete idiot. If i could take my money out i wouldn't have asked for help lol

 

[daniels27]

Are you Jon:
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/crowd2let.com?stars=1
Do you know what properties you hold shares in? I mean the name of the SPV and the address? I think you can easily verify if the names SPV still owns that property.

Crowd2Let itself seems not to own anything.

Last edited: Feb 27, 2024

 

[polonieth]

Why said:
Crowd2let.com


You can't take the money put of a Limited company that easily, it is shares not cash


Thanks for not assuming i am not a complete idiot. If i could take my money out i wouldn't have asked for help lol
Click to expand...

Not much about them online; I was expecting several negative reviews on Trustpilot, but there is not much there. The website looks like it hasn't been updated in 15 years.

How did you figure out they are no longer buying the properties? Companies House?

Rent paid to early investors is coming from new investors?

 

[Martin Everson]

OK it seems Crowd2let is just an Appointed Representative i.e its using the license of a bigger company to be regulated under the UK FCA.

You need to firstly ensure there is no misunderstanding between yourself and them and ask them to remedy your concern. If you are still not happy then follow the process and complain to the principal firm firstly and then to the financial ombudsman. Provide them with your evidence and let them all deal with it. If your case is strong then there should be some actions taken. Import is you document each step and all communication with all parties.

You can find below on FCA register details below of Crowd2let showing the principal license holder:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003LH1TsAAL

Principal firm:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000Mfcx8AAB

Ombudsman:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/make-complaint

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Please note my posts should not be taken as financial or tax advice. Please seek professional advice in that respect.

 

[polonieth]

Martin Everson said:
OK it seems Crowd2let is just an Appointed Representative i.e its using the license of a bigger company to be regulated under the UK FCA.

You need to firstly ensure there is no misunderstanding between yourself and them and ask them to remedy your concern. If you are still not happy then follow the process and complain to the principal firm firstly and then to the financial ombudsman. Provide them with your evidence and let them all deal with it. If your case is strong then there should be some actions taken. Import is you document each step and all communication with all parties.

You can find below on FCA register details below of Crowd2let showing the principal license holder:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003LH1TsAAL

Principal firm:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000Mfcx8AAB

Ombudsman:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/make-complaint
Click to expand...

The principal firm is Prosper Capital:

https://www.prospercapital.co.uk/appointed-representatives/

 

[daniels27]

Yes but... They are not buying real estate. You but shares of an SPV they open for you. The SPV is banned after the address of the team estate you choose to invest.
https://crowd2let.com/how-it-works/
Hence
1 they don't but
2 it does not matter if the limited they form still buy

The question is where OP chose any real estate to invest in. And if, whether he knows the address, can find the limited in companies house and verify whether they own the land and building there without huge mortgage on it.

 

[Why]

Martin Everson said:
OK it seems Crowd2let is just an Appointed Representative i.e its using the license of a bigger company to be regulated under the UK FCA.

You need to firstly ensure there is no misunderstanding between yourself and them and ask them to remedy your concern. If you are still not happy then follow the process and complain to the principal firm firstly and then to the financial ombudsman. Provide them with your evidence and let them all deal with it. If your case is strong then there should be some actions taken. Import is you document each step and all communication with all parties.

You can find below on FCA register details below of Crowd2let showing the principal license holder:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003LH1TsAAL

Principal firm:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000Mfcx8AAB

Ombudsman:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/make-complaint
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I contacted Pr0sper Capit@l, but they are as shady as C2L.
I then contacted the FCA but they directed me to the FO.
The FO is merely a mediator, they have no power whatsoever, so they are pretty useless. The best they can do is to address complaints about quality of service.
Company House will list the Limited company that were formed. But when you check in the Land Regitery that's where you can see who actually owns the properties.
I only found out because I followed up and was starting to be served some very lame excuses as to why the properties were not sold way past their due date.

daniels27 said:
Are you Jon:
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/crowd2let.com?stars=1
Do you know what properties you hold shares in? I mean the name of the SPV and the address? I think you can easily verify if the names SPV still owns that property.

Crowd2Let itself seems not to own anything.
Click to expand...

Ye eah property has its own SPV. C2L does not own anything.

polonieth said:
Not much about them online; I was expecting several negative reviews on Trustpilot, but there is not much there. The website looks like it hasn't been updated in 15 years.

How did you figure out they are no longer buying the properties? Companies House?

Rent paid to early investors is coming from new investors?
Click to expand...

Land registry.
Not sure about new investors, I didn't put money in recently

daniels27 said:
Yes but... They are not buying real estate. You but shares of an SPV they open for you. The SPV is banned after the address of the team estate you choose to invest.
https://crowd2let.com/how-it-works/
Hence
1 they don't but
2 it does not matter if the limited they form still buy

The question is where OP chose any real estate to invest in. And if, whether he knows the address, can find the limited in companies house and verify whether they own the land and building there without huge mortgage on it.
Click to expand...

Yes you know which property you invest in, you pay upfront to finance it

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

JohnnyDoe said:
If it's a Ponzi take your money out asap if you still can, and hide it as it might be subject to clawback. Ponzis are the best investments if you enter and exit early enough.
Click to expand...

Scams pumps the hardest

 

[daniels27]

Why said:
Ye eah property has its own SPV. C2L does not own anything.
Click to expand...

Ok, but they ones you invested in, do you know the name of the SPV and can you confirm that your SPV owns the land you invested in?

JohnnyDoe said:
If it's a Ponzi take your money out asap if you still can, and hide it as it might be subject to clawback. Ponzis are the best investments if you enter and exit early enough.
Click to expand...

A Ponzi does not work with SPV. In this case it is either fraud or not.

Can you please shed some light on the allegations?
1. Your investment into the SPV, do the SPV still own the land they should?
2. How do you know that there are new investments for which they are not buying the land if you are not investing? I think the guy is running this alone (from Company House documents, there is only one employee) and I doubt that he is investing in further marketing. This would explain why there have not been any new investments. He may just keep the ongoing investments running and take out the agreed management fees.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

daniels27 said:
A Ponzi does not work with SPV. In this case it is either fraud or not.
Click to expand...

the fact that they setup SPVs doesn't mean it's not a Ponzi (which is also a fraud).

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[Why]

daniels27 said:
Ok, but they ones you invested in, do you know the name of the SPV and can you confirm that your SPV owns the land you invested in?


A Ponzi does not work with SPV. In this case it is either fraud or not.

Can you please shed some light on the allegations?
1. Your investment into the SPV, do the SPV still own the land they should?
2. How do you know that there are new investments for which they are not buying the land if you are not investing? I think the guy is running this alone (from Company House documents, there is only one employee) and I doubt that he is investing in further marketing. This would explain why there have not been any new investments. He may just keep the ongoing investments running and take out the agreed management fees.
Click to expand...

It's fairly easy to investigate and they are not being very smart about it.
You invest in a project supposed to buy a property, they create a SPV and distribute shares -ro-rata, but the SPV doesn't buy the property.