Ajay Ahuja On Inside Out, London- Property Scam
This article was written on 04 Nov 2009
Anyone watch “Inside Out, London” On BBC, Monday (2nd November, 2009)? It was rather interesting.
The first half of the show was an investigation about a property dealer offering bargains that are apparently too good to be true. It was quite amusing when the “dealer” they were investigating turned out to be someone I know, or at least someone I have communicated with personally on various occasions in the past, Ajay Ahuja. I’ve written about him and the services he offers in the past, No money down deals.
I know a lot of people have heard of him; he’s quite well established in the BTL industry. He’s known for building a £15m property portfolio from just £500. More notoriously, however, he’s also managed to develop a reputation as a bit of a scam artist, by swindling people out of their cash with his “no money down” deals.
Ajay’s services include sourcing BMV (below market value) properties for a fee to investors. Apparently the deals aren’t always that great, and in some cases, the valuations his team put on properties are drastically off the mark.
Ajay used to advertise on my website, and we used to communicate via email and phone. He seemed like a reasonable guy on face value. I’ve never had any problems with him, but then again, I’ve never purchased anything from him. However, there’s always been bad publicity about him around the internet, so I was always dubious about his practises.
If you missed the episode, you can watch it here:
Your thoughts?
I had a few thoughts. I didn’t think his car was that great- I would have let the debt recovery agent take it. It didn’t look like it was worth more than his debt. It looked like an old shape Mercedes, which I wouldn’t expect a man worth 15m to drive. I’m assuming he isn’t all that liquid, so a lot of his wealth is just on paper. But he managed to squeeze 14k out of his arse to pay his debts, so he must have some money laying around. Just to clarify, Ajay always paid me on time. No worries there *thumbs up*
In the specific cases shown in the video, the punters didn’t get what they paid for. They paid for BMV properties, which never surfaced for one reason or another. But I have to put some blame on the punters. I mean, they paid for a list of BMV properties without knowing any information regarding the properties. That screams out “high risk”. Why would anyone do that? Seems like suicide to me.
I’m going to reserve judgement about his practises because I’m sure he has a long list of satisfied and unsatisfied cases, and each deal carries it’s own circumstances.
But let’s give credit where credit is due. His ethics in business may not be up to scratch, but the guy has taste. Check out his sexy house and partner…
Anyone had any dealings with the Ajay group, good or bad? I’d love to hear your story.
Update (08/11/2009)
Ajay responded to the report on his website.
Here’s the basic rundown of what he said:
- 1. The BBC refused to show any interviews with happy clients we have (and we have plenty of them!)
- 2. I do have staff! There are 10 of us excluding me who all assist in finding deals for my clients.
- 3. We worked with every single client that was shown on the programme to get to a resolution on each of their deals.
- 4. The county court judgements obtained by the clients were obtained by default. This means there was no court case. When you do not recive court papers how can you defend them? I have managed to set one of them aside (November 5th) and I am in the process of setting the other one aside. These will then be fully defended in court. I have been advised by my solicitor that I have a very strong case.
- 5. Buying property with little or no money requires persistence. Things can and do go wrong. We are there to guide the transaction away from failure. If it does fail we simply find a client another deal.
Do you know what? I can actually believe all that, and consequently I do sympathise. I’m not saying he offers a good or bad service, because I wouldn’t know, but I am saying that no matter how you invest in property, there is always going to be a degree of risk. It’s up to you, the investor, to take responsibility and use a bit of common sense.
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Talk / 18 Comments
Plus his stationery was well tacky.
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Here is my response to that programme:
http://www.ahuja.co.uk/property-news/property-headlines/let-down-by-auntie-beeb/
Ajay
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Its the media! I used to work foe a Japanese camera importer back in the early 90's and I think it was watchdog who gave us a going over due to one of our products being a tad 'leaky'! They did not use any of the technical info we sent them - much easier to make it up as they go along to make good TV.
Whilst I feel sorry for you in the way this has happened I think that you work in an industry where image is everything and given the recent issues with people losing money due to the 'investemnt schemes' offered by certain companies you may need to hire a publicist to help you through.
The problem is that everyone wants to get rich quick and see property as an ideal vehicle to do it even though they have no idea of business and the risks involved. I hate people who bleat on and on about how they have been 'fleeced' when it is their own fault for going for it in the first place = afterall they could have said no!
Now - I am not condoning your methods of business or slating them - I do not know you - I have not used your services (I have read one of your books however) but I think that you will have a rough few months ahead. You are a business man - its all part of the game!
Good luck
Jools
PS got a number for Max Clifford?
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People cannot be scammed if they use a modicum of sense.
Rule is take responsibility and CHECK IT OUT - whether a BMV property, internet fraud etc. Greed colours brain cells I'm afraid!
My only negative is wish he didn't send so many emails each day - some are relevant but to see the good you have to tolerate a lot of unessential, time consuming stuff.
Thanks for all your good content!
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People really do need to take responsbility for their own actions, and use a bit of common sense.
Like I said, I'm sure Ajay has both satisfied and unsatisfied customers, but that's the nature of the beast, with any business.
It's sad that the report was so one-sided though, and they didn't give Ajay the opportunity to fight his case.
haha, totally agree on the overkill on emails! It does make me laugh though.
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Thanks for sharing the link. The story seems like it was pretty one-sided, which is typical of the media. I hope it hasn't wrongfully affected your business too much.
Kind regards
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You are given the impression that full duediligence has been carried out, but that does not seem to be the case.
Then when you ring the customer service office to find out any further info, you are met with a brick wall.
I am guessing that the intention is to get your money, then abandon you when the deal fails.
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One of the main problems Ajay, is the fact that most people don't have vision and foresight much like yourself. If they did, they wouldn't need to come to you in the first place. They actually believe they can part with a fee and become rich overnight. Also, they believe the onus is on you to make them rich. How ridiculous.
Sadly, I feel, however, you are in for much problems in the near future. What you are offering is too good for the competition. It seems there is only one thing to do - Get Rid of You Quick.
Be careful.
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Ajay
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I am now on my 7th property ( started july 09).
I must thank Ajay after reading his stuff it gave me that little extra shove I needed to get started...
THANK YOU AJAY the money I paid to you for the above was well worth it.
However having been offered 'some deals' I decided ( with my wife) that I did need to see and appraise the property's being offered.
As the saying goes 'if it looks/sounds to good to be true..
A lot of these moaning people are hoping to spend a few quid and get rich over night... get real people.
As you labour so shall you reap.
Best wishes Ajay.
always remember that the first loss is the best loss... not sure how 'rich' you are but reading no gas certs etc.. why ? I get mine done for £50 and Electric for £100 and I get these done before any improvements are started.... My golden rule is to keep my desk clear of paperwork.
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Of course Ajay is monitoring this page ... he is a business man..
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Hope you have a great one and open an extra bottle of Mr Cristal this year!!
Twatty
PS: As I have been a fervant supporter of you this year any chance of loaning me a bob or two? Given the fact that everyone is bleating on about you having kept their deposits I am sure you would like to help a poor lonely landlord who is down to his very last bottle of 1996 Cristal Rose. xx
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Ajay's company is just as reputable as the rest of them out there.
I'm sorry that they picked on you Ajay.
All the best.
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I think you are missing the point.
It is impossible to do your homework when you are given just a one page report on the property that gives you such a vague idea of location & with LHA rates based on a perfect case scenario.
If the report actually gave you all the relevant info such as address or even just the postcode, people would have a much better chance of doing there homework before handing over a penny.
So many of the figures quoted on the report are guesstimates rather than accurate info.
But once you find this out, you have paid for the report & lost any hope of getting the money back.
I had a near miss when ajay was punting out a pile of "deals" that had compulsory purchase orders on them.
Shows how little research his team of professional sourcers actually do!!!
Ed
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