Feb

Exclusive: Rob Moore of Progressive Property reveals views on property academy regulation

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Following our recent article on property investment academies and the questionable activities of some operators, we asked the leading player in the market what should happen next.

Last month
LandlordZONE shone a light into the famously Wild West world of property
investment academies, many of which are hugely popular with novice investors.

As our
investigation showed, thousands of people have been attracted to this sector by
the promise of making both income and capital from property, often with small
amounts of – or zero – initial cash to invest themselves.

Their enthusiasm is
understandable; courses offer the training needed to operate rent-to-rent
schemes that enable ‘no cash down’ investment as well as the opportunity to
eventually become a more traditional buy-to-let investor.

Many property
academies are mini businesses by themselves, charging between £1,000 but up to
£15,000 for courses that offer mentoring and access to deals and mortgage
products.

The problem is that
it’s unregulated despite those within it handling tenant deposits,
down-payments on properties and signing leases that can last five years.

These academies
vary in what they offer but the best-known and biggest is Progressive Property.

It claims not to
employ the high-pressure sales tactics and provide the low-quality training
that its less scrupulous competition are well known for, and says that if the rest
of the property academy world adopted its approach, it would be a better place.

Progressive
Property has been around for nearly 15 years and is based in Peterborough, as
are many of the properties it manages or owns.

Its co-founder, Rob
Moore, is considered to be the ‘king’ of the property investment trainers. Does
he think the industry needs more regulation, a key message that emerged from our
article.

“I would be worried
if regulation gets a bit too heavy handed and you use a sledgehammer to crack a
nut,” he says.

“A good example is
the ‘sale and rent back’ or SRB sector that flowered briefly [during the
noughties until being shut down by the Financial Conduct Authority in 2012].

“Because of a few
people were slightly abused by SRB operators, it then became over regulated and
it ceased to be a commercial opportunity any longer and essentially [the FCA
activity] stopped the sector in its tracks.”

Moore says the property
academy sector should work together to stop a similar scenario developing.

“The one thing all
of us operating within this market have in common whether we are a landlord,
investor, educator or a commentator on a LandlordZONE forum or even a critic,
is that we all agree that property is a great asset class.

“We should be more
united in remembering that and we shouldn’t have this big divide and should instead
work together more to create voluntary regulation and a code of practice.

“I’m up for
anything that protects the new property investor, but I don’t want to see the regulation
to be so heavy that you can’t say or do anything.”

Moore claims that
whether you love or hate property academies, companies like his have provided
thousands of people with new careers and pensions, and that heavy-handed
regulation could end this overnight.

“Capitalism and the
free market is always a balance between innovation, creativity, competition and
regulation – too little regulation and you get the Wild West, too much and you
kill the market,” he says.

View Full Article: Exclusive: Rob Moore of Progressive Property reveals views on property academy regulation