Pension Funds in SIPP used to buy land scam

Kate_Eardley

I am trying to find out of there is anything I can do about my SIPP investments. I transferred several small pensions into a SIPP in 2009. I then used the money to purchase land through a company call Asset Land. I invested about 75k on 3 separate sites. I had to get the investment approved by Guardian Pensions, they approved it and sent the money for the purchases. The company were then investigated and all assets frozen. The financial conduct authority then took them to court and they were found to be fraudulent. I wrote to Guardian and they basically said that the investment was not illegal. So I am left with a SIPP that is worth nothing and I have to pay annual fees of £500.00 with no hope of ever getting a payment out of it. Any suggestions or insights would be most helpful. Thank you

SeniorSam

It seems others have had problems also. https://assetlandscamgroup.wordpress.com/

These so-say investment companies have caught out many people by suggesting a fantastic return and people blieving them. I doubt you will recover your investment.

dunstonh

Unregulated investments have virtually no consumer protection. The firms that do these things are typically unregulated (so you have no FOS/FSCS protection on them) and you end up with assets which are often worthless or near to worthless.

You are effectively stuck until the assets are sold or position is closed off. You should speak to the SIPP provider about this.

jamesd

Kate_Eardley wrote: »

I then used the money to purchase land through a company call Asset Land. I invested about 75k on 3 separate sites. I had to get the investment approved by Guardian Pensions, they approved it and sent the money for the purchases. The company were then investigated and all assets frozen. The financial conduct authority then took them to court and they were found to be fraudulent. I wrote to Guardian and they basically said that the investment was not illegal.

What role did Guardian pensions play? Were they simply a SIPP firm that provided no advice or were they a firm of independent financial advisers that advised you to go ahead with the purchase. I'm wondering why they had to "approve it" and in what capacity they did so.

The reason I'm asking about that is that an IFA who advises on an inappropriate investment is likely to be liable to make redress payments to put their customer back into the position they would be in if appropriate investments were made. This potentially means recovering all of your money plus interest. In this situation if the IFA firm is bankrupt the Financial Services Compensation Scheme would make payment instead up to their compensation limit.

Did you pay a deposit of £100 or more by credit card for any of the purchases? If you did you can recover much of the money from the credit card company, not just the £100.

It appears that there are frozen assets around and ongoing legal action that may recover much of the money involved. That part can't be rushed but the Guardian part can be acted on if they gave you formal advice to invest.

If you haven't yet registered with the Financial Conduct Authority you should call the FCA Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768 and say that you're an Asset Land investor who wants their updates and action on your behalf.

atush

I agree with the above, if guardian 'approved' it, i'd make a claim against them.

And when they turn it down as I am sure they will, take it further with the proper authorities (who cannot help you until you file the complaint withe Guardian)

dunstonh

I am reading Guardian as a the SIPP provider from the post. So, my answer is based on that.

Approval on an asset by a SIPP provider is whether it can be held in a SIPP or not. It is not a recommendation.

If Guardian were financial advisers and regulated then it changes everything.

greenglide

Assuming it is this "Guardian" http://www.guardianpc.co.uk/about-us/ then there is no mention of being Advisers. They claim to be administrators and providers of OEM products.

Kate_Eardley

Thank you all for your replies. When I say "approved" I asked them if it could be placed in the SIPP, I had to send in details of the company and the specific plots of land and they looked at it and either approved the investment or rejected it. The transferred pension funds were held in an RBS account in my name and Guardians and they had to approve the release of funds. The legal team used was attached to asset land and I have to wonder why Guardian didn't check that they were legitimate lawyers as Guardian charged me for each transaction made. I did make one deposit on a barclaycard ( then Guardian reimbursed me from my pension account) , but when I Barclaycard they said that a claim must be made within 24 months. Guardian did not recommend the investment, but I assumed ( probably wrongly) ,as they seemed to take a long time with the paperwork, that they were covering the legalities on my behalf.

dunstonh

Guardian did not recommend the investment, but I assumed ( probably wrongly) ,as they seemed to take a long time with the paperwork, that they were covering the legalities on my behalf.

No. That is what a solicitor is for on unregulated investments like that or an adviser does on a regulated investment.

All they do is check whether the asset can be held within a SIPP.

jamesd

Kate_Eardley wrote: »

I did make one deposit on a barclaycard ( then Guardian reimbursed me from my pension account) , but when I Barclaycard they said that a claim must be made within 24 months.

Ah, hope! Was it at least £100? There are time limits from the time you knew there was a problem, not the time of the transaction. Barclaycard are also quite poor at handling claims like this, often requiring the Financial Ombudsman Service to compel them to pay, hoping that as many people as possible will be discouraged and not go there. Like you. Don't expect them to be kind and helpful.

Assuming that the deposit was at least £100 I suggest that you proceed with the complaint and also set out that the reason you're resuming it is that you believe that you were misled by the claim of a 24 month limit originally. You should expect to have to take this to the Financial Ombudsman Service after Barclaycard again refuses to pay.

However, before you do that, who, exactly, was the recipient of the credit card payment? This matters a lot, because there has to be a specific set of contractual relationships in place. Paying someone like Amazon who then paid a merchant would invalidate the protection, so it's important that the payment was direct to the investment proposers or those acting on their behalf. The FOS will investigate this if there is uncertainty, so don't worry about it if there is some.

The potential gain here is all of the money invested, or at least all of it invested in whatever that deposit was for. And you should if you can claim everything from Barclaycard and let the FOS sort out how much you'd get.

Guardian appear to be off the hook. Barclaycard seem to be potentially on it still, but you'll end up waiting for the FOS to decide.

Worth a read of the web site that was mentioned earlier to see more of how others have done on the card route and perhaps get some guidance or support that way..