08 April 2023 , 15:49
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A firm that was fronted by Homes Under the Hammer star Martin Roberts has gone to the wall with debts of more than £3million.
Asset Academy has gone into administration and laid off all its staff, leaving behind a string of online complaints from would-be customers who say they paid out cash and heard nothing back.
BBC celebrity Martin and his wife Kirsty had shares in the firm, which ran training sessions promising to teach would-be investors how to make a killing.
Customers were persuaded to pay thousands of pounds for seminars or mentoring.
The firm’s website describes Martin as an “advanced speaker”, offering to share his knowledge of buying at auction.
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Martin was a speaker and shareholder in the company (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)The property expert is a familiar face to millions of viewers of BBC One daytime favourite Homes Under the Hammer – which features ordinary people buying homes at auction, then doing them up for a profit.
Martin, 59, appears in online videos promoting Asset Academy on its YouTube channel.
In one, he claims: “The great thing about property investing is, with the right training and the right guidance, anyone can do it.
“You don’t need to be some prima ballerina, you don’t need to be some God-given talent.
“Anybody from any walk of life, I believe, with the right training and right support, can become a successful property investor.”
Asset Academy has gone into administration and laid off all its staffOn its website, the company promised to provide “a complete property education through delivering high-quality, rich-in-content courses, workshops, webinars and self-study programmes that teach you how to invest in property safely and profitably”.
But would-be clients left a string of angry reviews before the administrators were called in.
One wrote on Trustpilot: “After I had booked in and paid for a course, they cancelled and moved it to a date that I couldn’t do, so I asked for the money back guarantee and have been chasing them for five weeks with no reply.
“Save your money and go for someone better.”
Another said: “I registered to attend [online] training on the 22nd February 2023, paying the booking fee. It is now over one month later and I have still not been provided with details.”
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Martin was a brand ambassador and is said to also be owed money (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)A spokesman for Martin said his involvement was as a brand ambassador, an auction trainer and a minority shareholder who has never received dividends
He added: “He had no involvement in the financial operation of the company. He stopped his association several months ago. Martin himself is currently owed a considerable amount of money.”
Quantuma Advisory, appointed as the firm’s administrators at the end of March, was contacted for comment.