Specialists in the property industry are warning consumers to be wary of companies selling plots of farmland that they claim will soar in value if reclassified for housing.

Speculation about housing shortages and government-funded building programmes has led to a sharp rise in the number of sales of plots to amateur investors this year.

Companies known as land bankers buy cheap farmland near built-up areas, usually for no more than £5,000 an acre, even though it is zoned as green belt and has no planning permission for development. They then repackage the land into small parcels, sometimes of only a tenth of an acre, which are sold at up to 20 times their original purchase price.

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

The former boss of a land banking company has been disqualified as a director for seven years following a Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) investigation.

(Via Planning Resource. To read the full story, search here)
(See also: Director banned over land sales @ the Telegraph)

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