Warning Over Local Property Investment Clubs

12.27.29pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 7th Nov 2005

Residents are receiving target mailing from so called Property Investment Clubs inviting them to resign their jobs and invest in property to become a property millionaire.

Vincent Cable MP has been seeking support from the Government and the Financial Services Authority to bring these clubs within the systems of financial regulation but this week received a brochure, himself, from Kingston-based Inside Track inviting him to come to a seminar - which costs £50, though this is not stated - to learn how to make money in property. Inside Track is an associate company of Instant Access Properties, also in Kingston, which was exposed recently by The Observer (Oct 15, Personal Finance section) and is being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading.

He said: "I have no doubt that Inside Track is a perfectly reputable company and, unlike others of the same ilk, it does not seek to hide its identity. But its activities - as it acknowledges in very small print on the back - are unregulated and there is no redress for consumers if something goes wrong. There are big risks in investing in property when we are probably at the peak of a bubble in the market and nothing in the promotional literature of this, or other such companies, alerts potential investors to these risks. This company also has massive hidden fees. I, for one, won't be resigning any job to become a property millionaire!"