I agree with some of the other reviews: the reviews for the educational aspect of Property Hub should be kept separate from the investment business. They are very different.
I have had various dealings with Property Hub and their businesses:
Portfolio REIT – I invested in Portfolio and understood it was a risk, but it was poorly managed. The REIT was losing money due to bad management and excessive spending on the app and admin costs. The decision was eventually made to wind it down. Thankfully, I hadn’t invested a large amount.
Shares in Property Hub – I also invested in Property Hub itself. The shares cannot be sold, no one wants to buy them, and the business has underperformed. The only possible exit is through a sale, which keeps getting mentioned but is years away. Again, glad I didn’t put too much in.
Property purchase – I went through the process of trying to purchase via Property Hub and often missed out with the “fastest finger first” method, which they have changed several times over the years. Previously, you could ask questions on calls (so everyone heard the answers). Now, you can’t.
I did manage to secure one property. They call after 8am the next day, which is hardly convenient for most people — certainly not for me, commuting time. On the call I asked for the cheapest available property, which I understood was available. However, the paperwork later came through a few thousand pounds higher. I was told this was explained, but despite requesting the call recording several times, I never received it. I continued anyway.
I then used my own broker (not their recommended one), who pointed out that buying through Property Hub would restrict my mortgage options. Many cheaper lenders will not accept “property club” purchases, but if you use their brokers this limitation isn’t obvious — they simply match you with lenders they know will accept it. Factoring in all the fees, the real returns were much lower than the cash flow Property Hub had projected. I raised concerns with my “portfolio manager,” but by then I had already paid the £6K fee, making it nearly impossible to pull out. He reassured me that the fee would be offset by price increases and cheaper remortgaging later, but that’s not necessarily true.
Fast forward a few months: my mortgage was approved and the solicitor was progressing, but I had to constantly chase Property Hub for an ETA. Their timelines kept slipping from one vague “couple of months” estimate to the next. They also introduced one managing agent, then weeks later recommended a different one. The process is marketed as “hands-free,” yet when I asked about getting appliances installed, I was told I’d need to buy them myself and arrange delivery/installation once tenants moved in. Not ideal, and certainly not what I expected for a supposedly managed process.
As we got close to exchange, I was suddenly told there was no mains electricity to the property. I was handed a form to sign saying the risks had been explained — but they hadn’t. The developer initially said they’d wait for the connection before completion, but over the following months the story kept changing. I was pressed for completion multiple times with only a week or two’s notice — unrealistic even in the best circumstances. My lender refused to lend without electricity in place, but I was still pushed. Property hubs final suggestion was to switch to a different lender via their broker, but my solicitor wasn’t on that panel. That would have meant restarting the legal process, incurring more costs, and using their brokers. I refused unless the developer covered the fees, which they wouldn’t. Eventually, the developer pulled out.
To be fair, Property Hub did refund their fee, which was the right thing to do. But beyond that, they offered very little help.
I raised a complaint with the developer myself, threatened to go to the ombudsman, and eventually recovered my legal costs directly from them.
While some of the blame lies with the developer, Property Hub’s communication and due diligence were poor, they should have known about the electric. I also suspect if I was dealing directly with the developer I may have had a better experience.
6K is a lot of money for what property hub actually end up doing, and eats into the discount especially when it is a cheaper property.
If I ever went through this again, I would be far more prepared and carry out my own thorough due diligence. For example, the electricity issue could easily have been uncovered just by checking related Facebook groups.
