Feb

DODGY COURSES: Outrage as another young wannabe landlord racks up £10k debt

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A concerned landlord has highlighted the case of yet another would-be investor who has fallen foul of dubious property educators and called for the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) to take action.

The person involved is a 27-year-old, who has a degree and works for the police and who wanted advice on how to grow a buy-to-let business to help pay for her children’s education and started off by following education courses on YouTube and Facebook.

However, she then signed up for a property training course – paying more than £10,000 for the privilege – and her credit rating has now been badly affected by getting into serious debt.

The veteran investor tells LandlordZONE that the woman, a tenant’s niece, now admits she was gullible and regrets paying for information that is available for free on the internet.

Refund

“She spent the equivalent to a deposit on a low-value buy-to-let property but has come out of this without buying any houses and doesn’t have a hope of getting a refund.”

She believes something needs to be done to address the unregulated property training sector which is raking in money using smoke and mirror techniques.

“This sector is like the Wild West,” she says. “By marketing flashy cars, watches and mansions, it is showing up all landlords to be greedy and self-centred with little regard for anyone else but ourselves. We have a bad reputation to start with, without making it worse for honest landlords.”

She believes the NRLA should be proactive in advising the public about the sector and lobbying government.

She adds: “The government should also be persuaded to regulate this wealth education, get-rich-quick-through-property sector in the same way that it regulated the financial sector, which forced out the more dubious companies.”

The landlord we interviewed wishes to remain anonymous. Read more about the case here.

Read more about efforts to self-regulate the property educators sector.

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