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High court shuts landbanking firm
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by liamssoft | June 4, 2008 at 06:35 am
482 views | 25 Recommendations | 10 comments
It is probably every investors worst nightmare: you pay thousands of pounds for a plot of land, which will get planning permission, only to find that the land did not get the permission and is worthless.
An illegal landbanking scheme which sold plots of land to investors with the promise of big profits has had its assets frozen following action by the City watchdog.
UK Land Investments Group bought up large chunks of land and divided them into small plots, which it sold on to investors.
Around 4,500 investors paid the firm £69m for 5,000 plots, which it claimed it could get planning permission for. These could then be sold on to a developer at a profit.
But none of the land was ever granted planning permission, leaving the investors with plots that were virtually worthless.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) asked the high court to wind up the scheme and has been granted an interim freezing order to prevent the firm from selling more land and to protect its assets for creditors, including its investors.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (10)
at 09:55 on June 4th, 2008
liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 10:32 on June 4th, 2008
Many thanks for the GS jordan. Landbankers buy farm land at agricultural prices - £5,000 to £10,000 an acre - then split it into small slices, selling each 0.1 acre plot for £13800 or more. The deal means landbank promoters can make upwards of £138,000 profit per acre without planning consent.
at 10:37 on June 4th, 2008
liamssoft, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 11:42 on June 4th, 2008
Many thanks for the GS amyjudd.
The new game of patience
guardian.co.uk, 01/10/2005
Can you multiply your investment cash 10 or even 15-fold with very
little, if any, risk? You won't do it with bank accounts, unit trusts
or even a sexy hedge fund or two.
But, according to a rapidly growing number of firms, known as
"landbankers", you could make huge gains by buying a patch of a
field - perhaps used for grazing horses - and wait until it gets
residential planning permission. To succeed, you just need a little
patience, plus the landbanker's belief that today's property planning
rules will be relaxed to meet John Prescott's home-building targets.
Click here for Investment Land for Sale
at 18:17 on June 4th, 2008
liamssoft, I like this story. For more info on this subject, see Fred Harrison's short video "Ricardo's Law" here:
http://www.youtube.com/lyrebirdchannel
at 07:50 on June 5th, 2008
Many thanks for the GS and Video Maireid Sullivan; there's as much chance of Gordon Brown changing the tax system in favour of taxing land values instead of earnings as there is in him resigning.
at 18:36 on June 5th, 2008
Nevertheless, Liam, implementation of Classical Economics' Resource Rent would correct most of our problems. (per English economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo.)
Did you know that Lloyd Goerge and Winston Churchill spent most of
their careers trying to get Resource Rent through Parliament? -
naturally, the House of (land) LORDS blocked him. Today, the "lords of industry' continue to maintain neo-economics because it is in their interest to collect profits through privatized exploitation of the global commons - which belongs to all of us.
Gordon Brown has his agenda, but that doesn't mean we have to blindly support him.
at 04:57 on June 6th, 2008
Many thanks Maireid_ very few people support Gordon Brown.... I agree implementation of Classical Economics' Resource Rent would correct most of our problems, but who is brave enough or honest enough to implement it?
at 20:18 on June 6th, 2008
Here is a good radio interview for you, Liam.
The Craftsman: Richard Sennett – Professor at New York University and Academic Governor and Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/default.htm
While the subject is broad, he gives a very good insight to origin of current problems in England.
There are two interviews on this download. At around 11:30 minutes, Phillip Adams introduces his interview with Richard Sennett.
Download the program here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2008/2266374.htm
Notes: Manual labour has long been derided in Western culture as the poor cousin of intellectual activity, but sociologist Richard Sennett urges us to take a more complex and sympathetic view of the hand's relationship to the head through his wide-ranging exploration of the meaning and value of craft.
at 13:12 on June 9th, 2008
Many thanks for the links Maireid,
.Yes its an interesting radio interview which the Government would learn from. However many people in the UK feel that the British Government do not represent the people. They do their own thing, which is usually the opposite of what the electorate want. They are only concerned with collecting more money and have no regard for investing wisely but prefer wasting it.
The minimum wage is used as the starting wage and is far to low to be able to afford to live here.
Many students from poor backgrounds who have the ability to study for a degree, are put off by the high cost of tuition fees and are afraid of getting into debt.
Most people feel its time the Government retired and a general election is called.