A company fronted by Homes Under The Hammer presenter Martin Roberts has gone into administration with around £3m of debts.
Filing on Companies House shows that an administrator was appointed yesterday for Asset Academy, which has laid off all its staff.
The Mirror reports that a number of potential customers could lose money after they paid out cash and got nothing in return.
Roberts, 59, and his wife Kirsty had shares in the firm which offered training sessions for aspiring property investors.
Organisation bosses promise on their website to help students of the academy learn how to ‘invest in property the right way’ and ‘thrive in today’s market’ during a three day intensive learning course.
They offer online courses, Zoom meetings and support groups via social media, although they state they are no longer taking on new students.
Roberts is familiar to many having appeared on property shows, helping people to purchase homes at auction before renovating them.
In a YouTube video for Asset Academy, he said: “The great thing about property investing is, with the right training and the right guidance, anyone can do it.
“You don’t need to be some prima ballerina, you don’t need to be some God-given talent.
“Anybody from any walk of life, I believe, with the right training and right support, can become a successful property investor.”
Unimpressed customers left negative reviews on website TrustPilot before the company went into administration.
One person wrote: “After I had booked in and paid for a course, they cancelled and moved it to a date that I couldn’t do, so I asked for the money back guarantee and have been chasing them for five weeks with no reply.
“Save your money and go for someone better.”
Another person wrote: “I registered to attend [online] training on the 22nd February 2023, paying the booking fee. It is now over one month later and I have still not been provided with details.”
A spokesperson for Roberts told the press that the TV presenter’s involvement with Asset Academy was as a brand ambassador, an auction trainer and a minority shareholder, and that he did not receive any dividends.
They added: “He had no involvement in the financial operation of the company. He stopped his association several months ago. Martin himself is currently owed a considerable amount of money.”
Homes Under the Hammer’s Martin Roberts issues ‘emotional’ health update
“Max your credit cards, blow your redundancy, borrow money from family, friends, the bank, the man you say good morning to in the paper shop, anyone and give it to us. We will then spend two or three days speaking guff and revealing the “secrets” to utopia that you can find via Google within 10 mins”
These companies are the true cess-pit of the property industry and it beggars belief they are not regulated in any way shape or form.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Many EYE readers will be aware that I am facing the biggest defamation damages claim in the history of the UK courts – £5.4 million – for fact-checking the exaggerated claims made by another property trainer.
These companies promising easy riches through property bring our entire sector into disrepute as they focus solely on the wealth people can allegedly make with little or no effort, without mentioning all the legal requirements to supply a safe and compliant home for a tenant.
Many of these property gurus have huge social media followings and post content that is not favourable to our sector, while at the same time reaching a huge audience of naive and impressionable people.
There was a recent BBC documentary “A Very British Cult” which looked at the Lighthouse organisation. You could have changed the name to many of these wealth creation trainers, as Lighthouse had all the similar hallmarks of people being sucked into an “ego-system” where everything is controlled by the originator. The student is drawn more and more into the system and upsold to more and more expensive products while being manipulated to believe the guru is right, and anyone challenging them is a nay-sayer, “hater” or jealous of them.
I hope my court case is a platform for positive change and I also continue to campaign for regulation of the wealth creation sector as I believe millions are lost to it every year and there needs to be much more consumer protection in place than just little ol’ me.
My court case now means that the few people or organisations who were willing to speak out and warn against property trainers are now too afraid to, for fear of being sued as well.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register