UK lifeboat scheme to reopen offshore property cases

And pay additional compensation to those who have received payments of less than £85,000

|

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is to reopen claims filed against offshore property development firm The Resort Group (TRG). 

On 15 June 2020, International Adviser reported that the lifeboat scheme had already paid out nearly £6m ($7.5m, €6.7m) in compensation to investors because the property assets were sold to them by 19 different advice firms based in the UK. 

Some clients, however, received only partial or interim payments for fractional investments amounting to less than the maximum sum eligible from the FSCS, which was increased to £85,000 from £50,000 on 1 April 2019. 

For people who hold full ownership of units, the procedure is going to be different as they will need to present independent valuations. 

Payment calculations 

The FSCS told IA: “Where customers have received interim/partial compensation for fractional membership investments, they do not need to contact FSCS about receiving further payments.  

We have a list of all customers who have received interim payments, that are less than the maximum FSCS compensation limit, and we will re-open these claims and pay any additional compensation due to those customers. 

For customers with full ownership of units, FSCS can accept independent valuations from a certified company; although these will be sense-checked against the value of similar properties on an online property listing website.  

If we have no independent valuation, then we will only be able to use the valuations provided by TRG.  

However, where customers have received a letter from TRG confirming they will be receiving an amount to be paid into their Sipp following the sale of one or more units, we can use the valuation provided, apply 10% uplift and take into account notional pension transfer losses at quantification date,” the lifeboat scheme added. 

MORE ARTICLES ON