Hotel room investors face losing 'life changing' sums
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2019
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
People who put money into a UK-wide hotel room investment scheme have been told they’re likely to have lost their money. Northern Powerhouse Developments tempted more than a thousand people to buy hotel rooms in tourist hotspots across England and Wales. Investors were told their money would earn them 10% a year and also be used to refurbish the hotels that had been bought. But, four years since it began to attract investors, the company behind the scheme is bust and the hotels are up for sale. BBC Wales reporter Kayley Thomas has been investigating.
Three small energy suppliers owe the regulator more than £2 million between them because they have not obtained enough energy from renewable sources. This so-called renewable obligation is run by the regulator Ofgem to make sure that energy suppliers source enough of their energy as 'green'. We discuss the significance of this.
Rising housing costs and inflexible tenancies are forcing young couples to live together long after their relationship has ended, sometimes sharing a room or even a bed. One survey of 2000 people found that one in six of us have lived with an ex-partner at some time. But is there anything you can do to ease the financial pain?
Presenter: Paul Lewis Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers. |
| 0:08.0 | But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA |
| 0:12.0 | was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife. |
| 0:18.0 | Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? |
| 0:21.3 | When lies are still being told to this day, who do you believe? |
| 0:25.1 | I wouldn't even know where to start, and I'm with the IRA. |
| 0:28.5 | Steakknife. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:37.3 | Hello, I'm Paul Lewis, and in this podcast, trapped with your ex, the young couples who have split up, |
| 0:43.3 | but are forced to live together by high rents and inflexible tenancies, |
| 0:47.7 | and turbulence in the energy market. |
| 0:50.0 | Will your small supplier survive the winter? |
| 0:52.8 | But first, invitations to put money into property investment schemes |
| 0:56.8 | arrive in my inbox every day. |
| 0:59.2 | And far from being safe as houses, |
| 1:01.3 | they usually lead to massive losses for those who are persuaded to hand over their money. |
| 1:05.8 | Northern powerhouse development tempted more than a thousand people |
| 1:09.0 | to buy hotel rooms in tourist hotspots |
| 1:11.4 | across England and Wales. They were told the money they invested in their room would earn |
| 1:15.5 | them 10% a year. But four years since it began to attract investors, the company behind the |
| 1:21.1 | scheme is bust the hotels up for sale. Kaylee Thomas from the investigations team at BBC Wales |
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