The Financial Services Authority has secured a £920,000 payment for victims of a £11 million land bank in a High Court ruling.

A Hugh Court judge has ruled against Stephen Watkins, who traded as Consolidated Land UK, confirming he sold land illegally to UK consumers  and ordered him to make an interim repayment of £920,000 to his victims.

(Via CityWire. To read the full story, click here)

Harry Watkinson, a spokesman for the City of London Police, says: "We've also seen a significant increase in the amount of land banking fraud recently."

This is where property investment companies persuade investors to buy small plots of land in the hope that planning permission will be granted by the local authority, thereby increasing the land's value. Often the land being sold could never be developed because it is an area of special scientific interest, inaccessible, or simply non-existent. Last year the Financial Services Authority closed down five land banking firms who had lost investors £42m. The FSA is also investigating a further 20 firms and estimates that total losses through land banking fraud top £200m.

(Via The Independent. To read the full story, click here)

Four men have been charged with conspiracy to defraud following police enquiries into four companies believed to have been involved in land banking.

Omar Esphari, Dean Straker, Stefan Mitchell and Derial White have all been charged before being released on bail and are due to appear at City Magistrates on 23 June.

The charges, the first to relate to alleged land banking, follow enquiries into Pemberton International, Eldon International, Willow International and Allied Investment Management.

(Via CityWire. To read the full story, click here)

A landbanking firm has been issued with a winding up order by the high court after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found it had been marketing plots of land as an investment opportunity and operating an unauthorised collective investment scheme.

Between May 2009 and April 2011, Plott UK Limited collected about £3.9m from UK consumers, promising investors returns of between 200% and 300%. But at least one of the plots was located in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty and was highly unlikely to ever receive planning permission.

(Via the Guardian. To read the full story, click here)
(See also Watchdog targets landbanking firm at the BBC)

Secretary of state for business Vince Cable has applied for the winding-up of six suspected land banking firms in the High Court.

The High Court has appointed a provisional liquidator for Stowford Place Investments, ASA Global Investments, Prinston Estates, Alpha Capital Investments (London), Greenacre Global Partners and Vinci Trading following confidential enquiries carried out by the investigative arm of the Insolvency Service.

(Via CityWire. To read the full story, click here)

The UK government plans to release public land for house building to help alleviate the nation’s chronic shortage of residential properties.

From this autumn every government department with significant land banks will publish plans to release thousands of acres of previously developed land to house builders to build up to 100,000 new homes and create 25,000 jobs by 2015.

The Public Expenditure Committee, a Cabinet Committee chaired by Francis Maude, will go through each department's plans with a fine tooth comb, to make sure every possible site is made available for house building.

(Via Property Wire. To read the full story, click here)

PropertySCAM comment: This would appear to solve the immediate shortage of development land without any need to tap into privately owned land banks. Land banking now looks less viable than ever before as a personal investment vehicle.