Leading ‘property guru’ critic has YouTube channel taken down

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A critic of ‘property guru’ Samuel Leeds has had his YouTube channel disabled by the video platform following complaints made by both Leeds and his partner, Amanda.

The pair complained to YouTube that clips taken from Leeds’ videos and used by Andrew Burgess in his own productions were an infringement of their copyright.

YouTube concurred and has deleted Burgess’ account including all his content because ‘one or more of your videos contained copyright material’. The platform has told Burgess that ‘copyright owners can choose to issue legal complaints that require YouTube to take down videos that contain their content’ and that ‘when you have three or more copyright strikes your account can be disabled’.

Video clips

Burgess is one of many YouTubers who have used video clips from material published by Leeds to highlight their criticisms of his business model, personal wealth claims and ongoing assertions that students can attain financial freedom with little or no money via property investment.

Leeds has been investigated by several national newspapers including after Danny Butcher, one of his former students, took his own life after falling further into debt after paying substantial sums to attend a course run by Leeds’ company, Property Investors.

But in recent months the property guru has been on the front foot, publishing dozens of ‘crash course’ videos as well as sending legal letters to publishers, campaigners, YouTubers and forum moderators via his legal representatives, Ellisons.

Appeal

“I have appealed the YouTube ban claiming ‘fair use’ and am waiting to hear but I don’t hold out much hope that they’ll reinstate my account,” says Burgess (pictured).

“I’ve lit the touch paper with my efforts and now many other people are looking more closely at how Leeds runs his business, so my work on YouTube is done.

“Leeds has tried everything including reporting me to the police and four sets of legal letters, all of which have not come to much, but I can’t fight an unaccountable platform like YouTube once they decide to take content down.”

Legal challenge

Burgess, who also runs a Facebook page that is a discussion platform on ‘property educators’ like Leeds, says he recently won a victory of sorts after referring Ellisons to the Solicitors Regulation Authority following multiple threatening letters from the firm, one of which gave him less than the SRA’s suggested 14 days replay period to respond.

“They gave me ten days to reply to a pretty robust letter which the SRA has agreed was not a long enough period, particularly given it was over the Christmas period when law firms were closed. The SRA has raised their concerns over this with Ellisons.”

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ANALYSIS: From dark kitchens to e-bike rentals, here’s how retail landlords are surviving

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As shopping centre values are hit by the decline in retail and a COVID induced home delivery trend, landlords are desperate to find alternative uses for redundant space, reports Tom Entwistle.

One company backed by Softbank, an international tech focussed venture capital fund, is offering shopping centre owners a possible solution to their problems.

Reef technology claims to transform under-utilised shopping centre space and car parks into fulfilment centres, neighbourhood kitchens, urban farms and e-scooter rental stations.

Creatives measures

Challenging times call for creative measures and perhaps there’s nothing much more challenging than revitalising a dead or dying neighbourhood shopping centre. This is one solution that just might work.

Miami based Reef Technology has signed a deal with Capital and Regional malls, a stock market listed-landlord with seven shopping centres around London.

Reef was originally a car parks management company trading as ParkJockey, and has since expanded its package into storage and fulfilment for home deliveries, with its own three-wheel Reef branded e-scooters for home deliveries.

Dark kitchens are where local restaurants and new food brands can prepare food for local delivery, and urban farms are there to market locally grown and environmentally-friendly produce.

Electric performance

Alternative uses can be added in the future including stations for e-bikes, electric vehicle (EV) charging points, and e-scooter rentals.

The $700million funded Reef already operates 4,500 locations in the US and Canada and has raised a further $300million from private equity investment specialists Oaktree Capital Management (which recently tried to buy estate agency giant Countrywide) to enable it to acquire strategic property assets.

It has been estimated that in the UK 16,000 shops closed for good last year and approaching a further 1,000 have closed already in 2021. In addition, landlords have been confronted with billions of pounds of lost or deferred rent payments since the start of the pandemic last year.

Glimmer of hope

Reef’s arrival therefore offers at least a glimmer of hope for shopping centre landlords, and an insight into how they can adopt a diversification strategy that has been proven to work.

Reef‘s MD Europe, Barak Zimerman, told The Times newspaper: “The need to adapt and transform retail has never been greater” Our platform will help Capital & Regional “drive its assets recovery as businesses evolve post-pandemic”.

Pic credit: Paul Wilkinson, Flickr.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – ANALYSIS: From dark kitchens to e-bike rentals, here’s how retail landlords are surviving | LandlordZONE.

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Tenant who illegally sub-let her flat is treated by court as rogue landlord

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A tenant who illegally sub-let her flat as an HMO has, somewhat ironically, been convicted of being a rogue landlord.

Sonia Nascimento rented a converted, four-bedroom flat in St Pauls Avenue, London, in 2017 but went on to let the property to eight other tenants for a profit.

She has now been ordered to pay more than £9,000 in fines and costs for multiple housing breaches after Willesden Magistrates Court heard how a lack of smoke alarms and fire safety system put all the tenants in danger, including a four-month-old baby.

One of the tenants reported Nascimento to Brent Council’s private housing services last July, revealing that none of them had a tenancy agreement or had used a government-approved deposit scheme.

An inspection revealed that the property had no HMO licence and that Nascimento, who did not live in the flat but was ‘head tenant’, was in breach of housing management regulations.

The owner of the property, who paid occasional visits to the flat, was issued with a £2,500 civil penalty notice for failure to licence.

Taken to court

Nascimento was given a £5,000 community protection notice, but when she failed to pay it, the council took her to court.

Councillor Eleanor Southwood (pictured), lead member for housing and welfare reform, says: “Landlords who fail to license their properties or who are not following housing management regulations are breaking the law.

“Safety of tenants is our priority and we encourage anyone who suspects that their landlord may be acting outside the law to report their concerns to us.”

Read more about HMO tenancies.

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I did not realise even insurers held us in such contempt?

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I just applied for Home Insurance with Hiscox, I was declined because I am a Landlord!

I made it clear it was for my home only, but it made no difference.

I did not realise even insurers held us in such contempt.

The post I did not realise even insurers held us in such contempt? appeared first on Property118.

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Why UK Property Prices Will Rise in 2021

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I correctly predicted last year, that there would be no housing market crash in 2021.

In this update, I consider some key announcements from the Budget and state why I feel property prices will rise in 2021 and beyond.

The post Why UK Property Prices Will Rise in 2021 appeared first on Property118.

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EXCLUSIVE: What the broken evictions system means for landlords when tenants go ‘nightmare’

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Landlord couple Udayanga Vitharana and Kumari Sujantha have been let down by their letting agent, legal representatives, the benefits system and the courts in their attempt to evict a wayward tenant.

The woman stopped paying rent last April but has been running a beauty business from the house in Crawley, Sussex where she has hosted clients during lockdown.

She’s been exploiting the benefits system by falsely claiming extra Universal Credit and also blocked the couple’s three attempts to apply for an Alternative Payment Arrangement.

The tenant now owes the couple more than £14,000 in rent, but last week a court threw out a Section 8 notice they had issued in May after the unlicenced legal firm representing them omitted to tell the judge vital facts in the case and provide important paperwork. They found out months later she had paid £50 to their account just before this without telling them, to ensure she wasn’t two months’ in arrears.

Udayanga tells LandlordZONE that the tenant is using benefit and legal loopholes to stay in the three-bedroom property. He has no idea when they will get another court date – and in the meantime, they’re trying to pay two mortgages. “This issue has been very difficult for us mentally and physically over the past 10 months,” he says. “I suffer from a chronic illness and the stress caused by this is affecting my wellbeing.”

False references

The couple discovered she had given false information on her reference form which hadn’t been picked up by online lettings agency Open Rent. “She said she worked for a non-existent company,” says Udayanga. “We only wanted a professional person and wouldn’t have signed the contract if we’d known her situation – I expected more thorough checks.”

OpenRent says the couple’s complaint is being handled by its team. Founder Adam Hyslop tells LandlordZONE: “They are in dialogue with the customer and our referencing provider to determine what went wrong and propose a resolution to the customer based on those findings.”

The landlord couple then found out she had been claiming benefits for months – and it also transpired she was claiming for two people, receiving £750 instead of £480. The DWP is now investigating benefit fraud. “We finally started receiving direct payments in October but it doesn’t cover our mortgage,” he says.

Their tenant has refused access to the property since May and, as a result, an evaluation request was declined. “By doing so, she prevented us from getting a better re-mortgage deal,” adds Udayanga. “We are so fed up – we just want our house back.”

Read more about the problem of unlicenced legal firms.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – EXCLUSIVE: What the broken evictions system means for landlords when tenants go ‘nightmare’ | LandlordZONE.

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