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Land investment schemes to avoid By Tony Hetherington
A piece of advice originally offered to politicians who fancied public office, but didn't like the public scrutiny that came with it, was "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen".
I would say it's also good
All of this came to an end when Securetrade was shut down. But the story doesn't finish there. Recently, brochures from a company called IDC Land have landed on doormats throughout the country, offering an investment in land at Loch Shin in Scotland. The land is reckoned to be ripe for a tourist development and is being sold off in plots starting at £9,000 and valuing the whole site at about £600,000 - a hefty price tag in the Highlands. Planning permission The good news is that almost 30 years ago, the local authority did grant planning permission for such a development. The bad news is that the permission expired and whoever owned the land clearly could not make a go of it financially. But there are other, more serious question marks hanging over IDC Land's Loch Shin project. For the company's terms and conditions say bluntly: "The Company… does not claim specialist knowledge or expertise as to the future prices of land and its reclassification". Well, excuse me, but if IDC Land has no specialist knowledge or expertise, then what the heck is it doing selling investment land in the first place? Even worse it continues: "The Company shall have no liability for any statements made by any person or agent involved in the sale of any plot, unless they are set out in written form and signed by a director". In other words, don't rely on our sales staff. Putting the icing on the cake it ends by saying: "When IDC Land Group or a developer wishes to acquire the site, all plot owners will sell". And meanwhile, plot owners have no right to develop their own chunk of land individually. This last condition ties plot owners together and is certain to attract the attention of the FSA which is hunting for land investment companies that might count as an unauthorised unit trust in land. And when an unlicensed scheme is found, it is likely to be shut down. Now back to the kitchen, and the link between Securetrade and IDC Land. Securetrade was run by Brian O'Brien, an American living in Sussex, and by Lynne D'Albertson and Charlotte Wirth. Surprise, surprise, IDC Land is also run by D'Albertson and Wirth, after O'Brien quit as a director last July, just as the FSA closed in on Securetrade. Switching kitchens? Or is it a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire?
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