Property Partner
Pros
- Voted Best Property Investment Service in both 2018 and 2019
- Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Exit your investments early via the thriving resale market
Cons
- Need to fund your account with a minimum of £250 to get started
- You may need to hold your investments for 5+ years to generate worthwhile returns
Property Partner is a purpose-built platform, allowing investors to browse and invest in student accommodation, commercial acreages and residential dwellings throughout the United Kingdom.
There are plans for expansion, which will allow investors to peruse property all over Europe and even further afield. Keen to know more? Then check out our Property Partner review.
At A Glance
The modus operandi is simple – you can build a property portfolio in just five minutes by investing in multiple properties at the click of a button.
You can spread investments – choosing different properties and invest the amount that suits you.
When the time is right you can sell your investment, with Property Partner promising you will be able to leave the party with a fair deal.
In a nutshell, Property Partner is an FCA-regulated platform facilitating online investment and management. The company:
- Allows investors to trade online 24-hours-a-day 7 days a week
- Carefully sources property deals that are ripe for investment
- Negotiates discounts on these deals, and passes savings to investors
- Makes sure all properties are properly let and managed
- Makes sure all properties are well-cared for
- Provides investors with quarterly dividends on their investments
What Fees Do Property Partner Charge?
As an investor you can expect to pay a sourcing fee, and a transaction fee, plus the stamp duty to take into account on resale market investments.
The transaction fee and sourcing fee together will not equal more than 3.5% plus VAT of the total purchase price. From the 5th August investors will also need to pay an ‘assets under management’ (AUM) fee and an account fee. The good news is that there’s no fee to pay when you decide to sell your shares.
Assets Under Management Fee
The assets under management fee (AUM) is based upon the equity value of the property. The AUM Fee is collected on a monthly basis, taken from the property SPV at the standard rate of 1.2% (prior to any dividends being paid out).
If you have shares valued over £25000 you are eligible for a cash rebate, and the AUM fee decreases to 0.7% for the part of the portfolio that’s above the £25000 threshold.
If your portfolio is above £325000 you are eligible to cap your AUM fee at £200 per month. However, you will have to pay 0.7% on any shares purchased after 5th August.
If you decide to sell any shares purchased before the 5th August you will get a rebate of the AUM fee paid (providing these shares are sold before 5th February 2020).
Account Fee
A monthly fee of £1.00 plus VAT is charged to all clients who have investments or cash in their account. As a new investor you only have to pay once you have deposited funds, and three months have gone by.
Transaction fee
Investors with above £25k on the platform can invest in New Listing properties with a 0% transaction fee. For everyone else, it’s 1% for both New listings and Resale Market listings.
Stamp duty tax
Resale market investments carry an additional fee of 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax, this is payable when purchasing shares but is not taken by Property Partner themselves.
View Available Properties:
How Safe Are Property Partner Investments?
All investment carries some level of risk, so always explore every opportunity with due care and attention.
As a Property Partner investor, you will be paying into development loan bonds, so as the old saying goes, don’t put all of your eggs into one basket!
There are always risks associate with procuring a residential property minus a mortgage. If you invest via Property Planner you should also keep in mind that you don’t get a say in daily decisions associated with property, and you may not be able to govern the exact timing of your departure.
Limit risk by diversifying your outlay – don’t go for a single loan, instead, spread your investments across a wide range of properties. This reduces your exposure if there’s a problem with a tenant or the property itself.
Property Partner provides comprehensive information relating to estimated gross rental income.
The company garner information from reliable sources, but they cannot offer a guarantee that their projections will be completely accurate. After all, projections are just that – projections. Unforeseen problems do crop up from time to time – rental income could be low for a period or there might be no rental income for a time.
You can sell your investments
Property Partner inform clients that they can put their investment up for sale when they choose, but just because you’ve decided the time is right to sell it doesn’t necessarily mean someone will be ready to buy.
You might find a buyer, but not be able to secure the price you had in mind.
If that happens you will need to hold fire and hold onto your investment for a further five years (until the next five-year anniversary of your property’s listing). When you do get the right buyer, you will still have to wait a while for the whole sales transaction to go through (we’re talking a few months).
Investment value can fluctuate, so be prepared for downs as well as ups. No-one has a crystal ball (unfortunately), and things can go wrong for a variety of reasons.
The property market in that area could fall into decline or the property itself could suffer damage or develop problems, and if this happens repairs etc. will need to be paid for with rental income.
Unexpected exits
Finally, there’s also the “unexpected exit” scenario to mull over. Property Partner state that they reserve the right to dispose of the property and return net proceeds to investors.
If there is a major incident e.g. a fire, Property Partner may opt to take this course of action. As an investor you would then see a poor return on your investment, and an impact on your taxable income.
How Investing With Property Partner Works
Designed with simplicity in mind, Property Partner allows you to invest quickly and easily. There are plenty of investment opportunities for the discerning investor to peruse and choose.
You can flick through the online selection (there are over one-hundred UK properties to choose from), and choose the property for you.
You then decide exactly how much you would like to invest. Property Partner allows you to build your own property portfolio, investing in a range of properties to suit your ideals.
Registering is straightforward enough – you simply sign up on the website. You don’t have to worry about all the paperwork, dealing with solicitors etc Property Partner look after the whole lot for you.
There’s a team of dedicated industry professionals waiting to do the legwork on your behalf.
Investments you wouldn’t otherwise be able to make
You get to invest in big property deals you wouldn’t normally be able to get close to and you also get to swerve all of the hard work that goes into securing the deal.
The team will find properties or you to look at, negotiate the best deal possible, deal with all of the paperwork and communicate with solicitors, source tenants and look after them well, and organise the completion of any maintenance and repair work.
You earn a regular rental income from your investment in the form of a dividend (representative of property income after deducing costs/provisions).
Property Partner carry out dividend adjustments on a quarterly basis and often exceed forecasted amounts.
Selling shares on the resale market
The company keep a close eye on your investments. Property Partner bring in an independent RICS Chartered Surveyor half-yearly, and they value all properties. As an investor you can track progress by logging into the company dashboard – here you can see how much money you have made, and gain an overview of capital losses or gains.
When you decide to sell your investment you simply list your shares as “for sale.” Fellow investors can then see what you have to offer by visiting the Resale Market (best described as a sort of stock exchange for property).
Alternatively, you can wait it out, when the property celebrates its five-year anniversary you can exit at market value. It typically takes, on average 3.9 days to sell property shares.
Property Partner Reviews From Customers
So, Is Property Partner Any Good?
This Property Partner review has so far given us an insight into what the company has to offer, but is Property Partner any good?
Does it provide you, the investor, with plenty of choice and investment opportunities that are too good to turn down? Or is it just a middle of the road property crowd-funding platform divvying up a few properties for you to have a look at?
Well, when it comes to offering varied investments and managing them on your behalf, we feel that Property Partner offer a comprehensive service.
They have a hands-on approach that allows you to make informed choices, you select the most attractive investment prospects and then pass the baton to Property Partner to “seal the deal.”
It certainly seems there are a lot of good points, and we will explore those in more detail. In the spirit of transparency, we will also take a look at any negative points.
Positives Of Property Partner:
Signing up with Property Partner will afford you some great benefits:
- A wide range of investments for you (choose from over 100 properties)
- Search for properties based on different factors e.g. location
- Spread your investment across different properties (residential, student and commercial)
- A dedicated team to look after everything, from negotiation to listings, lettings and sales
- Regularly has all property valued by completely independent RICS chartered surveyors
Plus, you can track all of your investments from an easy-to-use dashboard and there is a thriving Resale Market where you can sell to fellow investors and exit your investment.
Negatives Of Property Partner:
If you are considering investing via Property Partner you need to be mindful of one or two issues.
- First off there is always an element of risk, never see an investment as a sure thing!
- Returns can be somewhat unpredictable and you will have to pay out fees
Also, keep in mind that some investors might struggle with the lack of control they feel they have over their investment. You might have to play the long game (hold onto your investment for five years), in order to secure the returns, you are chasing. This is not an investment for the impatient!
A Short History Of Property Partner
An expert in financial services and investment, Daniel Gandesha founded Property Partner in January 2015, following his own frustrating experience with the buy-to-let market.
What with endless with red-tape and recent government tax changes, buying an investment property felt akin to starting a complex business empire, rather than the fuss-free investment he, and thousands like him, sought.
Determined to solve the problems faced by your average investor, Gandesha decided to take action -taking property investment back to basics by focusing on what the investor actually wanted. Hence Property Partner was born.
Property Partner Review – Summary
We’ve given Property Partner the once over, and we are impressed. This is smarter property investing for those keen to enter the property arena, get in on some impressive property deals, but don’t have the funds to go it alone.
Whilst there are risks, investing in bricks and mortar could net you a healthy return.
Property Partner has its heart set on making it easier for everyday people to build an impressive property portfolio and we have to give them a pat on the back for their efforts.
