Social Housing Scams: Red Flags and How to Protect Yourself
Over the past few years, we have seen a sharp rise in scams linked to “social housing” investments. These schemes often market themselves as ethical opportunities promising investors strong returns while helping to fund much-needed affordable housing projects.
Unfortunately, many of these companies collapse and are later found to be operating fraudulently, leaving investors facing devastating financial losses.
At Refundee, we’ve worked closely with victims of several social housing–related collapsed investments, including ACH Investments, Aquila Property Sourcing and CityGate Housing. Through our investigations, we’ve seen common patterns and red flags that investors should be aware of.
Unfortunately, some investors have experienced losses with these schemes, but we're glad to say that Refundee has successfully helped our clients get reimbursed in these situations.
How Social Housing Scams Work:
Typically, the scammers operate by presenting themselves as property developers or investment companies with strong social missions. Investors are promised fixed returns, sometimes as high as 20-30% per year.
Sometimes these scams claim to be ‘government backed’ or to work with social housing providers, this is just another layer of the scam to lure investors into the scheme. Most commonly, these relationships with social housing providers do not exist or in some cases, are grossly exaggerated/misrepresented.
Behind the scenes, however, the money is not invested as promised, or used to pay returns to earlier investors in a Ponzi-style structure. The companies would then claim financial problems and sometimes put themselves into voluntary insolvency, with the funds disappearing.
Red Flags to Look Out For:
Unrealistic guaranteed returns - High, fixed profits with little to no risk are almost always too good to be true.
Secrecy/lack of transparency - Quite often, these companies won’t give you specific names of who they supposedly have contracts with. They will say this is because it’s a commercial secret but usually, it’s because the contract does not exist.
Pressure tactics - Scammers often push investors to act quickly, claiming opportunities are limited or “closing soon.”
Unregulated firms - Many of these companies are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide investment services.
Promises of ethical or social impact - While genuine social impact investing does exist, scammers often use this angle to build trust.
Claims of being government backed - This is a common tactic scammers would use to claim investors funds are secure, building further trust. In reality, the schemes are not government backed.
Lack of transparency - Vague answers about where the money is invested or failure to provide verifiable documentation. For example, you will be told money is used to get units ready for occupancy, but there is no breakdown of how the money is used.
Examples of Collapsed Schemes:
CityGate Housing – Attracted millions from investors with promises of high returns from social housing projects before entering liquidation.
ACH/JPC Capital Property – Marketed rent to rent housing opportunities working with landlords, but investments were fake, leaving investors stranded.
Aquila Property Sourcing - The company stated it was working within social housing and had various contracts with London councils. The supposed contracts with local authorities they supplied to investors were fake.
What to do if you have invested?
If you have invested in the schemes above or any similar investments you believe may not be legitimate, please get in touch with Refundee. We have a wealth of experience working within fraud and can help clients recover money from situations like this.
If you’ve been affected, it’s important to know you’re not alone. We’re speaking to victims who are now seeing results from taking action - and we encourage others in the same position to get in touch with us to see if recovery may also be possible.
Who can Refundee help?
If you have invested from a UK bank account then Refundee may be able to help, you can Start Our Claim form on our website. We assist in managing your case from beginning to end, alleviating the stress of revisiting previous events. Our fees are transparent, competitive within the industry, and simply structured without hidden charges.
You don’t need to seek professional representation to argue your case. You have the right to represent yourself for free. Of course, this means that you don’t incur a fee if you are successful.
We have recovered over £90million for our clients so far, with a proportion of this coming from social housing cases. You can read more about our clients' experiences with us on TrustPilot.
How would the process work?
Refundee manages everything for you.
We begin with an investigation to understand what happened in your specific circumstances. After some paperwork, we handle your case from start to finish, working with your bank through to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
These cases can take around 6-12 months, although the process can vary in terms of duration.
More about Refundee
Here are the technical bits:
Refundee Ltd is a claims management company authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of regulated claims management activity FRN: 937096.
Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office; registration number: A8986071.
Registered office address: Refundee, 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE.
Registered as a company in England & Wales; number: 12855931.
