By Chris Lang
Property Frontiers is an investment company based in Oxford. Ray Withers, the founder and director of the company says, “I founded Property Frontiers back in 2004 due to the fact I personally had a bad experience investing overseas. I strove to build a company offering a professional service, that did its research and due diligence, and focused on treating clients fairly with no hard-sell.”
But Property Frontiers has promoted a series of investments that have gone pear shaped. Here are three of the investments promoted by Property Frontiers that have previously appeared on REDD-Monitor:
Silva Tree, Costa Rica: In 2009, Property Frontiers was promoting investments in carbon offsets in Costa Rica. Silva Tree was buying land in Costa Rica’s rainforest. For a minimum investment of US$12,000, Property Frontiers claimed an “8% guaranteed return”. The land was to be held in trust by Citadel Trustees. A Property Frontiers brochure claimed that,
By launching one of the first voluntary REDD projects in the world, and one of only a very few combined projects, the developer hopes to be a market leader by exploiting first mover advantages.
Silva Tree, Panama: Also in 2009, Property Frontiers was promoting investments in Silva Tree’s tree planting operation in Panama. Again carbon offsets were involved. Property Frontiers claimed “Guaranteed returns of up to 18.71% p.a. over 20 years”.
The Christian Science Monitor exposed the project in April 2010, as claiming to be a “certified carbon offset project”, when it was not certified.
As Dutch journalist Okke Ornstein pointed out repeatedly on his website Bananama, Silva Tree was a scam.
EcoPlanet Bamboo, Nicaragua: In 2011, Property Frontiers was promoting investments in a EcoPlanet Bamboo’s operations in Nicaragua. This time, Property Frontiers really went over the top, advertising the investment as “the best value forestry investment on the market with returns up to 895%”.
Once again, Citadel Trustees was involved, and once again, the investors were left asking where their money went.
(Two other failed investments that were promoted by Property Frontiers were luxury villas at Bacolet Bay in Grenada, and holiday apartments in Montenegro. If you have invested in a scheme promoted by Property Frontiers, REDD-Monitor would love to hear more about it in the comments below.)
Northern Powerhouse Developments
More recently Property Frontiers was one of several companies that promoted investments in hotels run by a company called Northern Powerhouse Developments. In total, more than 1,000 people handed over about £80 million to Northern Powerhouse Developments and other companies owned by Gavin Woodhouse.
The investments were in care homes, hotels, and a proposed adventure resort at Afan Valley in South Wales.
In July 2019, the High Court in London ordered Northern Powerhouse Developments and four other related companies into liquidation.
Six years ago, Woodhouse raised £16 million from retail investors to build four care homes.
The record is not good. Smithy Bridge near Rochdale has been built, but not opened. Hawthorn Care Village in Burnley is still a disused school. Walsden Care Village in Calderdale is still a timber yard. And work hasn’t started on Clifton Moor in Tyldesley.
None of the companies that Woodhouse set up to build the care homes have any money left.
The money went to another Woodhouse company, MBI Consulting. That company went into administration in August 2018, with debts of almost £18 million.
Woodhouse and his companies were the subject of a December 2015 investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Woodhouse’s MBI Group is described as,
a company whose managers include a struck-off solicitor, a disqualified director and a chief executive who was once the sole director of a company that held a strip club licence – and who says his involvement in the sector will allow him to buy fast cars and diamonds for his wife.
Woodhouse posted this image on his Facebook page (it’s now gone, but is still on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism website):
That should have perhaps set off a few alarm bells!
Property Frontiers and Northern Powerhouse Developments
Property Frontiers encouraged people to invest in the following three Northern Powerhouse Developments hotels:
The Atlantic Bay Hotel in Woolacombe: In February 2017, Property Frontiers’ Ray Withers told the Daily Express that,
“For UK property investing in 2017 we believe holiday homes, coastal cottages and hotels will be popular with investors looking for a favourable stamp duty environment, high yields and insulation from market uncertainty.”
The Daily Express reported that Property Frontiers was “selling hotel room investment packages in four-star Atlantic Bay Hotel in Woolacombe, Devon, from £75,000, promising 10 per cent guaranteed net yields for 10 years and a 125 per cent buyback option”.
Here’s an archived copy of Property Frontiers’ website promoting the Atlantic Bay Hotel.
Eden Country Spa Hotel, Cumbria: In August 2017, Woodhouse announced that “Northern Powerhouse Developments has exchanged on the purchase of Eden Country Spa Hotel, the latest property to join our growing portfolio of UK hotels”.
The hotel was called Gilsland Hall Hotel and was to be renamed after it had been refurbished.
Property Frontiers advertised this hotel as “one of our most anticipated launches of 2017”. The hotel was “set to become one of the UK’s leading spa destinations,” Property Frontiers told us.
Property Frontiers claimed that an investment of £45,000 would give a return of “10% NET p.a. for up to 10 years”.
The Eden Spa Hotel is still on Property Frontiers’ website. Click on the image for an archived version:
Harland Hotel, Scarborough: In December 2017, Northern Powerhouse Developments bought the Esplanade Hotel. It was to be refurbished and renamed as The Harland. Property Frontiers stated on its website that the hotel “offers a range of luxury en-suite hotel rooms from as little as £60,000”. And Property Frontiers claims that the investment would give an ongoing income of “10% NET for 10 years”.
Here’s an archived copy of Property Frontiers’ website promoting the Harland Hotel.
The Guardian and ITV investigation of Woodhouse and his companies
The Guardian and ITV recently carried out an investigation into Woodhouse’s companies. They found a “multi-million black hole, where investors’ money has vanished”.
Northern Powerhouse Developments bought 11 hotels. None of them made an operating profit.
Northern Powerhouse Developments denies any wrongdoing. But in July 2019, the Guardian reported that the Serious Fraud Office was considering investigating Woodhouse and his companies.
John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw called on the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate. Mann told the Guardian,
“This smells a bit like a Ponzi scheme, and it’s so complex it’s hard to be certain, but something is not right here. And so there needs to be either regulation intervening or to check whether or not this is in fact legal. So I’ve written to the Serious Fraud Office and Andrew Bailey, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority, the regulator, asking them to intervene and investigate.”
If the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority do decide to investigate, perhaps they could also take a look at some of the companies that promoted investments in Northern Powerhouse Developments’ schemes. Property Frontiers would be a good place to start.
Chris, I felt the need to respond, openly, to your latest post regarding Northern Powerhouse Developments.
I was extremely saddened and shocked when I learned of the situation. This is clearly a devastating mess affecting all investors, including those introduced by Property Frontiers. We are currently working with investors, the administrators, authorities and lawyers to see what options there are for investors to salvage as much as possible.
As you mention at the beginning of your article, I founded Property Frontiers in 2004 and have put in 15 years of hard work to offer investments that I myself would invest in, the majority of which (4000+) have been successful for our clients. We have acted as introducers to Northern Powerhouse Developments (NPD), along with many other companies, and although our due diligence process is in place to try and minimise downside risk, risk is a part of any investment – especially if the individuals involved deliberately set out to defraud, mismanage or be dishonest.
We had no reason to suspect that the projects offered would not deliver, or any inkling of the events that have taken place – clearly if we had, we would never have introduced any of these projects to our investors. Whilst we do all we can, unfortunately it is very difficult to guard against a potential lack of integrity.
In the case of NPD, we did a lot of background work, speaking to previous investors and other parties involved in hotels that had already been sold to investors, together with visiting the sites, as well as meeting key personnel within the business – many of whom had very strong track records and credibility. There appears to have been a systematic failure of management within NPD, and potentially misappropriation. Highly-experienced Board Members with demonstrable track records and roles in similar businesses, such as Peter Moore OBE, Richard Lewis, the Welsh Assembly and the Bear Grylls Survival Academy were also victims of Mr Woodhouse’s (and potentially other parties’) actions.
I’m certainly not detracting from the frustrations and heartache that our clients and their families must be feeling. It is truly regrettable when any investment does not deliver on the claims promised by developers. However, Property Frontiers was not directly involved in the running and/or management of these projects and therefore had no control over these events. It is reckless to make accusations that we deliberately set out to mislead our investors.
We really do care about our clients and the projects we take on. In many cases, including this one, we continue to work with investors, supporting legal cases (with our time, experience and financially) to do all we can to see justice served.
Kind Regards,
Ray
More crocodile tears from Ray methinks.
He’s shocked that investments in crazy products like carbon offsets, Bamboo plantations and unnaturally high yielding spivy property ventures translate into total losses for his clients!
I bet he’s not shocked by the very high commissions the majority of those kinds of shitty deals pay. Probably forgetting a critical litmus test with investing in this sort of crap – the higher the commission paid to the agent/introducer the higher the chance that clients lose everything. Then again, if you’re the one receiving those ultra-high commissions (often 20%-50% of a client’s investment, I doubt the clients are told just how high they are or indeed they’re paying via swiping the cash from their initial investment amount) it might make good business sense to forget the litmus test. As for the clients, that’s their problem if/when the investments fail, just tell them all investments carry a risk and nobody saw this coming.
When will small retail investors learn – stay away from all of these shitty investments promoted by commission hungry unregulated agents – the foreign off-plan dream resort that’s always yet to be built (look at those pretty virtual reality pictures!), the ‘earn a guaranteed 15%-20% yield via student accommodation/hotel rooms’, the Teak/Bamboo/Carbon offset scams and so on.
I would not be at all surprised if Ray promoted off-plan land plots sold by Invest in Brazil Limited on their Tambaba, Pueblo do Mar or Oasis do Mar developments. They all look right up his alley. Current status on all three – un-built wastelands. Investors of course have lost everything. Big commissions paid to whoever introduced clients to the ‘deals’. And would you believe the company was also touting a 20% annual yield. Actual yield, a permanent and negative 100%.
The money made via commissions to the unregulated agent/introducer is basically risk-free with all these shady ‘investment’ deals. All they have to do is convince the clients they’ve done lots of ‘rigorous due diligence’ and are experts in the field of identifying solid and profitable low-risk high reward investments. Yeah, Ray is such an expert he promotes things like ‘up to 895% return over x years’ via investing in Bamboo and then ‘wonders’ how it was possible all his clients lost all their money.
Surely just “895% + Bamboo” without looking at anything else re the deal tells anyone with a brain that there’s a very very high chance, in excess of 95%, that something is up and to run as fast as possible from the deal. In fact, how can anyone who proposes they’re an ‘expert’ in property and/or general investment products NOT see through the potential scam within just a few minutes? Ray obviously couldn’t so he did his own special ‘due diligence’ on the project which obviously found nothing wrong so promoted the crap to his clients who then unsurprisingly all lost their money. Ray didn’t lose though, he got paid via those fat and risk-free commissions. But don’t worry folks because he’s on your side, he feels your pain and frustration and is doing everything in his power to try to make the investment work. In the meantime investors, have you considered investing in a new beachside luxury resort in Mauritania? Property experts are predicting the country is going to be a really hot market over the next 5 years as Chinese buyers are starting to flood into the country. it also offers over 300 sunny days a year with an average temp of 28 degrees. Yields are expected to be in the 20% range and you’ll own the freehold! Hurry up though because there are only a few plots left at the ‘discounted first movers advantage rate’. Oh, and did I tell you the resort has already won (without a brick being laid!) multiple awards for ‘Best African Luxury Development’ from both the very prestigious AIPP and equally prestigious OPP. It’s going to be a very profitable and sure fire winner for me, sorry I meant you!
Rinse repeat eh Ray.
Andrew, whilst everyone is entitled to their own opinion, your statement seems to indicate some personal animosity towards me.
We don’t appear to have any record of you being a client, but I am happy to speak to you personally regarding Property Frontiers and/or any of our projects. Please feel free to email me on [email protected] and we can arrange a suitable time to speak or meet in person to discuss.
However, there are factual inaccuracies in your comments, above, that simply cannot be left without a response.
Firstly, Property Frontiers would never take on a project with a fee structure such as you describe and would not deem fees in the 20-50% region reasonable, justifiable or feasible. We are paid a fee from the Developer which is never hidden from a client/investor.
Secondly, we have never promoted the Invest in Brazil Limited projects, nor are any of their projects in the pipeline. These are not developments we have looked into so cannot comment on the basis of the investment structure but, if they are as you have described, then Property Frontiers would never promote them to our investors.
In respect of EcoPlanet Bamboo, despite its challenges, we continue to believe in the fundamentals of the investment (and there were many credible, independent sources that supported this). This is also a project that I have invested in and still have a significant amount at stake personally. We continue to try and work to find a resolution to issues that have arisen but unfortunately, as is the case with a lot of these projects, the issues stem from the mismanagement and/or problems with ongoing funding of the project itself. As I have said, I think it unfair that you are blaming Property Frontiers, and me personally, for failures of other parties, when we are not involved in the management structure and don’t control (or indeed have any influence on) the project.
Having personally suffered from poor investment advice before I co-founded Property Frontiers, one of the founding principles is that we would never launch a project that we would not personally invest in. Current and former members of staff, along with myself, have invested in many projects which Property Frontiers has marketed – whether these have proved fruitful investments (which the majority have) or, in the case of EcoPlanet Bamboo, where the investment has not delivered on the promises made by the developer to date.
Please feel free to contact me directly so that we can resolve any differences of opinion and bring an end to these public and personal attacks.
Ray, i think you need to tell the truth about your “real” connection to Gavin & Ben, we have both photographic & video evidence of recent meetings….. very interesting i must say….. just what exactly were you doing in the company of Gavin and Ben just 13 days ago……. tut tut
Mary, this is very interesting and completely false. I can categorically state that the only connection I had with Gavin and Ben, or indeed , Northern Powerhouse Developments, is that of an introducer/agent. I have not had any connection, or met with them, since all of this has come to light. I would be delighted to see any supposed evidence you have of me meeting as this is completely unfounded and untrue.
Well the only looser here are her investors. Not sure why Property Frontiers have been named as one of Gavin Woodhouse agents. What about the two that were there from the beginning Select Resorts Micheal Riley and the biggest one of all Elite investors Graham Rowan they were there from the beginning and new exactly what was going on at MBI. With Gavin Woodhouse. Ben Dews and Robin a group of crooks.
Catherine, you are quite wrong the investors are not the only losers. We as a hotel were introduced by a well know sales agent and we trusted them to find credible buyers. We were very sceptical about selling to NPD but we had no choice our bank had never let up pushing us around form the first month we purchased the hotel. the made us use expensive advisors. In the end 2 insurance claims still unsettled and bank bulling we were forced to sell… We too landed in the NPD trap. I could lose everything through NPD and our bank has been merciless. So the investors are not the only ones to lose money I have already losts a great deal of money, I am not a rich hotel owner just a normal person. No one thinks about the people working in these hotels….. My staff went through hell not knowing what was happening. They are still going through hell because the our business is not stable as a result of NPD. Like I say I could lose every penny I own, I did not get a say in selling, our bank wanted out NPD were presented to us as credible buyers by a credible sales agent who had a proven track record of purchasing hotels.
There must be staff in hotels who have lost their jobs as a result of this. Investors are not the only ones who have suffered financial loss.