The Property118 countdown clock is ticking

Hi,

It was only recently that you announced you had gained SEIS advanced assurance so I am surprised that you think it is to expire so soon - please remind me when your pitch for crowd funding expires?

Reply to the comment left by "martin wilkinson" at "13/08/2015 - 13:34":

Yes that's right Martin, we only obtained advance approval for SEIS this week. It is the Crowd Funding campaign that has 38 days to run. Once the crowd funding campaign expires we will no longer be compliant under the Financial Promotions Regulations or the Collective Investment Regulations, hence the deadline.
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Have you considered asking letting agents to invest? It's a good way for them to protect their businesses from the disruption that will follow if the tax relief restriction proposed in the budget proceeds. They could lose clients hand over first but your portal will help them to find landlords who are buying in their area too. There's a double opportunity for them 1. to charge a fee to existing clients for managing the sale, 2. to pitch for new business from active buyers. Maybe you could throw in some additional benefits such as free advert upgrades if they invest more than X?

Reply to the comment left by "Anon " at "13/08/2015 - 13:52":

OMG, I'm getting paranoid now. I've just had exactly that conversation in the last 20 minutes with a letting agent in Oxford. Either you're on exactly the same wavelength or you've been tapping my phone! 😀 LOL
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "13/08/2015 - 13:40":

Mark, please explain how the ending of your crowd funding campaign impacts on any tax breaks that are available under SEIS - tthanks?

Mark, is there a limit on the number of investors?

Would it help the situation if those already investing increased their amounts?

Reply to the comment left by "Sam Addison" at "13/08/2015 - 14:58":

Hi Sam

Yes it would definitely help if those who have invested increase the amount they are willing to commit.

There is no limit on the number of investors we can accept, the £25,000 figure I've mentioned is based upon my own time constraints. I would like to meet all investors but I really only have time to present the proposition personally to those who are in a position to invest £25,000 or more due to the looming deadline.

In hindsight I wish I'd have offered that from day one but I didn't anticipate the Budget announcement or the disruption it would cause. Perversely, if the Budget proposals do go through, activity in respect of the number of tenanted properties changing hands is due to intensify significantly as those selling are snapped up by retired cash buyers in search of better returns on their saving and also Limited Companies which are not affected by the Budget. I have just sent out this Press Release >>> https://www.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Selling-Tenanted-Properties.pdf
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Reply to the comment left by "martin wilkinson" at "13/08/2015 - 14:07":

The end of the crowd funding campaign doesn't affect the SEIS approval. However, it means that I can no longer promote the collective investment without falling foul of regulations.
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To confirm the deadline is not critical to secure SEIS tax breaks but is to the crowd funding method of raising finance you have chosen?

Reply to the comment left by "martin wilkinson" at "14/08/2015 - 15:01":

Yes that is correct, the compliance protection associated with crowd funding is the creation of the time pressure, not the SEIS status. However, without the crowd funding model I can't see how I can promote the investment opportunity without falling foul of financial promotions regulations and collective investment regulations.

We are just ahead of target at the moment and thanks to this article my diary is filling up nicely. My guess is that the funding target will be reached in around three or four weeks time, because that's when most of my appointments are booked. I hadn't considered the impact of the school holidays, especially on business owners who are short staffed at this time of year. Very few people want to see me in August which is why my diary is filling up in the weeks after the kids go back to school.

With this knowledge I won't worry so much now if we start slipping off target, I'm confident we will see a big bounce back when I start meeting people and can explain the bigger picture, which nobody can ever get from a crowd funding pitch or a spreadsheet.

I'm still keen to fill my diary though so if you are interested in meeting, or at least have an initial telephone discussion, please do get in touch.
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