A company marketing plots of land on behalf of a "land-bank" business has been wound-up by the High Court in Manchester following an investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Insolvency Service.

From August 2005 to July 2006, Actionjack Limited, using the trading style "English Land Partnerships" (ELP), carried out a telesales campaign recruiting private individuals to a scheme in which parcels of land were purchased for investment purposes. ELP is described in promotional literature as a land bank business aimed at identifying and securing prime undeveloped land before planning consent is granted. The land is then divided into smaller plots and sold to private individuals with a view to planning permission for the whole site being obtained. Investors were recruited on the basis that the value of a site may increase tenfold if planning permission was obtained.

CIB's investigation found that the company had been offering investment advice to the public despite Actionjack and its sales staff having had no previous experience or qualifications to advise members of the public on purchasing land as an investment.

(Via Government News Network. To read the full story, click here)


Tweet