Property Moose Reviews 51

Same complaints as others. Started off fine but then got locked in and haven’t seen any dividends for many months. I get this was not a sure thing but the appeal was a fixed term and now it isn’t and I have no idea when I will get my money out... even at the c20% loss they predict.
I had over £20k in at one stage but got out by selling on secondary market before they shut that down. Now down to £6k of which they say I will get £4,8 back.
Horrible company. My mistake but don’t make the same mistake I did.

Wouldn't bother if I'm honest. I didn't invest much in so I've not lost as much as many people but I haven't received a penny since last May and doesn't seem like any income will be forthcoming. As I said, I didn't put much in so I can write it down as a bad idea and move on. But others will have invested thousands. Don't make the same mistakes.

I have been with property moose for over 2 years. It was very good initially. Everything was transparent, however the actual rent received was much less than the estimated rent given prior to investment. My two cents: read their predicted rate of return/rent with lunch of salt. They hardly achieve what they predixt. However, at leAst I was getting some rent prior to may 2018.
Last year, suddenly the company decided to move to another structure. I have 5 investments with them over 8K, however 0 income since may 2018. The reasons given were Brexit, slow economy etc. Apparently the new company is renovating all properties, which will increase value (who knows what the truth is). We were given choice of exit votes, which always went against what I voted for anyway (apparently most people didn't even get a chance to vote). I opted to exit early. I was shocked at the valuation I received, I lost 2.5K over 3 years, forget profits. I am actually making a loss of 25% after 3 years of investment. I was asked to wait until the other company goes live on share market, then apparently I can sell my shares. But I don't trust their valuations a bit now. What if the shares plummet down after they go on share market? Then I bet they will say it's beyond our control control bla bla. Find 100 other excuses.
Although I opted to exit last year, I am told I won't get my money back until first quarter 2019. Now I have to wait for my cash, as if the loss isn't bad enough.
I regret going into property moose. Please don't trust the figures you see on their website about predicted return, predicted income etc. Read the small footnote at the bottom saying "your capital is at risk", a footnote that should be enlarged.

This is an edit of the previous review. After speaking to them and explaining my situation, they did eventually give me my funds back. So although my experience was bad, they did return my funds, which i desperately need as I suffer from a tumour syndrome, and money is not easy to get as I am always sick. Thank you.

Not sure what all the fuss is on here. I invested in the first property and then made a couple additional small investments in other properties, and have had a great experience with Property Moose.

The last thing I would have wanted was for the board to stick their head in the sand and let my money fizzle out in a business model that wasnt maximising my returns so I admire their up front nature of telling us that they dont think it is going to work in the current form and in a difficult market and how they want to change it.

I've had regular emails from Andrew over the 4 or 5 years of so that I have invested and have always been kept fully informed of the proposals, the advantages and disadvantages and also what my rights are. I, for one, am happy with the way it was structured so that a small minority couldnt ruin it for all the rest.

Keep up the good work Property Moose! Look forward to standing by your side in the new adventures that come.

The original business model for PM was sound at the time and the returns that were originally anticipated (note the word anticipated and not promised) were realistic. Having owned rental properties in Cumbria and the North East it is a good place to rent properties as the yields are high.

The problem came with Brexit which was not foreseen at the time the investments were made and the steady decline in the property market across the North East. Sadly PMs portfolio was heavily North East centric and as such was hit harder than had the portfolio been more balanced.

Even larger companies with much larger portfolios such as Property Partner have suffered as their focus was London/South East and there too returns have not been as good as anticipated.

With rental property there is no such thing as making a quick buck or a big bang, this is not Bitcoin or cryptocurrency trading.

I see the plans are to convert the shares held in properties into shares of one consolidated company which can then be traded. The advantage here is that they may be subject to tax relief especially when managed alongside pensions.

Due to the changes in tax arrangements, increased stamp duty and also with new legislation coming on line for landlords I have decided to quit the BTL market in the North East and Cumbria and just keep the existing portfolio in the South West and Wales.

I believe that the people behind the scenes are doing their best with difficult circumstances and are acting in the best interests of their customers. This is a basic requirement for a FCA regulated company, failure to comply brings serious consequences for those running it... Period...

I have had no problem with Property Moose, and although rental income has so far not been as I would have expected, I have found Property Moose to be accommodating in explaining the reasoning for this, and for communicating to investors the steps put in place to seek higher returns where possible.

Property investors must take a long term view when injecting capital into ventures such as this, and those looking for a 'quick win' should look elsewhere. I have found email updates from Property Moose to have been informative, clear, detailed and jargon free. I find Property Moose to be a trustworthy investment platform, and I have had so far no reason or cause to think otherwise.

I think many of the reviews posted here are highly misleading and unfair. I have personally invested in one of their secured loan opportunities and can’t complain about the experience I had so far. In the end I received gross yield of 9% just as the company promised. Andrew Gardiner was always available if I had any questions and kept me updated about the state of the loan repayment. I will keep you updated if my experience changes but so far my experience with propertymoose has only been great.

Update :

Having spoken to property moose and the thorough conversation had I feel my original rating was a little draconian. I have a clearer view now and for any one using the site, while it is very user friendly, please educate your selves thoroughly with property investing.

Original post:

I invested money into properties and have no idea where the money is. The site looked enticing and i invested. New laws and legislation meant my investment was transfered. I now dont see the value of this. I have no a ability to transfer my money out and the return in investment is awful.

Remember you're not investing in Property Moose, so it can't actually be a scam as such where they run off with your money. This is because the investment is in separate companies that own the individual properties. It seems to me that one of the things they did wrong was mainly buy properties in by far the worst performing regional market in the whole of the UK outside of Northern Ireland. Zero capital growth in the N. East. So, the terms come to end and there's basically no incentive to sell and they themselves can't make their cut because there's no profit. Also, a very crowded fintech market so they probably can't make money and there's just not enough activity. So, now the whole portfolio gets spun off into 1 company (I think this is the plan but heaven knows how long that will take) that gets floated and then we'll get some liquidity. Problem is the shares could crash if we all want out at that point through boredom and lack of returns! The lack of communication on progress in the last few months is very poor. (not poor - see below edit. I was impatient is closer to the truth)

Thought I'd update following a response from PM and recent communications from the new Property Company (which have been excellent and I am reassured that they are doing the sensible thing for the investors). I have therefore updated to 4 stars from 2 stars. Basically, I'm going to sit tight and wait for the Plc to be fully functioning and operating according to the new revised plan and see what the yield is. I have to say that some of the posts here seem to indicate that people don't read the documentation properly.

I have been using property moose for over three years now, and I am still positive. The property market is not an easy one, and the whole crowdfunding model is a legal minefield. PM genuinely protect the interests of investors. Recently they have been moving the entire portfolio into a new legal entity, which will be floated on the london stock exchange as a plc. Yes, this is a big change and it gave me a few worries. But I have found communication to be good, and I have to agree it is the only way to turn our equity into a valuable liquid asset. Hang in there guys.

Oh, and yes, the investments haven't been paying out recently. That will be why everyone is upset, but at least nobody is running off with our money, or going bankrupt with it, the company is still running, financially stable, and not a scam.

This is the worst company I have had dealings with. They promised huge returns and have failed to deliver on anything at best we get 3% which they make incredibly difficult to withdraw. It is impossible to get your money out, we have money that we should easily be able to get out as itś not invested in any property and has come from the rents. It doesn´t matter what we send them in terms of identification it´s never enough! If I could have given 0 stars I would.

I am really unhappy with this company. The investment ended months ago and I am still awaiting return of my investment. I would not advise anyone to invest in this company. If you have money to invest and actually want to keep it then invest in something else for you will NOT receive your capital back!!!

I've invested with Property Moose for a couple of years now and currently into a 5 figure sum. I was fairly confident at first, received a modest monthly return on most of the properties. I was never completely happy about the deductions, which seemed that everyone else got their share and the investor was left with the scraps. Since they got rid of the secondary market and changed the website layout, their communication and transparency is almost zero. They removed the rent payment indicator that would tell you how much return you were getting over the previous months. Where once the investor was buying and selling shares of properties on the secondary market at whatever cost per share, those shares are now at a static worth of £10 per share, so if you paid more at the time because property moose listed them as being worth more, you've lost out already. Investors apparently have voting rights to decide what to do with properties, i.e. keep or put on the market. I personally have never received a voting option on any of the properties, just messages to say that a vote had taken place and a certain action was happenning. Earlier this year, Property Moose decided to pay investors quarterly instead of monthly which they had been doing. Fine, you'd think that the payment would equate to three times that of the old monthly income.....WRONG. The quarterly payments I have received are just over half of the old monthly payment. Also, what happens to all the accrued interest while rent payments are sat in Property Moose' bank account for the other two months? I very much doubt that I will get even my initial investment back, so far the returns are around 3%. There are better companies out there to invest with.

They removed their secondary market overnight without informing "all" clients. Can you image such a critical decision being taken and not transparently communicated to all clients so to avoid major selling and withdrawals?! Then from that moment on, in February 2018, not a single pence in rent has been paid to any client. Finally, even if you hold cash in your account with them and try to withdraw it, they'd never pay you back. This company is obviously already bankrupt and is trying to delay the announcement as much as they can so as to benefit their major shareholders. MARK MY WORDS!

Along with the other issues already mentioned in reviews here, Property Moose deem it acceptable to withhold vital information such as underwritten rent not being paid for 18 months just before a shareholder vote on whether to sell the property or not. Then they claim to be working very hard to hold another vote "very soon" yet two weeks later, there's still no vote.

They are moving away from property and more focusing on offering loans now. The payments moved to quarterly, the most recent dividend was well below what I had anticipated as they have held funds.

It's a shame as it was great when we had the secondary market... now you are held into shares for years.

I have mixed feelings about this company. I have been investing with them for a few years now, both in BTL and notes and I like the idea of diversifying my overall portfolio and not keeping all my savings in stocks, cash, etc. Property Moose is now regulated so should be above board but I can't help feeling they are not entirely transparent with investors. (I have a query over one particular property that they seem to have vastly over-paid for, but it is not easy to prove anything untoward). I agree with comments about high fees and long void periods, communication is good though. I tried to spread the risk so clearly some BTL houses are performing better. The fact is for all of them, the rent estimates are always way off what is actually eventually achieved (typically -10% to -30%). Now, they are actively exiting most of the properties, starting Q2 2018, and I am hoping I will have some liquidity soon. I will decide then whether to re-invest in loan notes or take my cash somewhere else.

The Property Moose does not show you how they manage the rent money. The rent distributed to investors dropped and when I asked for the breakdown of costs, advisors could not provide me with full list of deductions and explain with numbers why the rent dropped.
Also, the loan note investment with fixed interest was converted to buy-to-let without my consent after one year. I lost the interest for one year and I cannot get back my invested amount.

Property Moose started with offering BTL loans with a fixed term, at the end of which investors could vote to sell the property or continue for a further period. I recently decided to get out of BTL and therefore voted to sell two properties at their maturity, but I was in the minority. However, PM did have a secondary market on their website (which was packed with sellers, which speaks volumes) so there was a slim chance of exiting via a 'private' sale. Now they have decided that due to recent legislation they will close the secondary market. By abandoning investors without any alternatives, they have reduced their limited chance of exiting to essentially zero. It looks as if I will be stuck with these poorly performing investments for ever. I would not recommend anyone investing in BTL investments with PM unless this is what they really want.