You were told it was a sound investment. Nobody told you it was unregulated, high risk, or that your solicitor had a duty to warn you.
Overseas property. Student accommodation. Storage pods. Hotel rooms. Care home rooms. Parking spaces. They were all sold as solid, income-generating investments. You were told the returns were reliable and the risk was manageable.
What you were not told was that these were unregulated investment schemes. FCA rules ban their promotion to ordinary investors. They should only have been marketed to certified high net worth or sophisticated investors. If you were a regular investor placed into one of these schemes, someone broke the rules.
Your solicitor had a duty to advise you properly and warn you about what you were getting into. If they failed, or if they had a connection to the people selling the scheme they never disclosed, the loss may be recoverable even now.
The scheme may have collapsed. The promoters may be gone. But where the solicitor failed you, there is usually a professional indemnity insurer behind them. That means there is a real prospect of getting your money back.
What your solicitor was required to do
A solicitor advising on a UCIS investment had to understand what kind of scheme it was, tell you clearly it sat outside FCA regulation with no FSCS protection, satisfy themselves you were a suitable investor, and disclose any connection to the promoter. If they failed on any of those points, they fell below the standard the law required.
Does this match what happened to you?
You were not told the investment was unregulated
Nobody used the phrase unregulated collective investment scheme. Nobody explained what that means for your protection. You invested in good faith on incomplete or misleading information. That is not a risk you accepted. It is one that was hidden from you.
The risks were never properly explained
You were shown projections and told about the returns. You were not told your capital was exposed in ways a regulated product would never allow, that there was no FSCS protection, or that the scheme was unsuitable for most investors. The risks were known. They were not shared.
Your pension was transferred to fund the investment
If a SIPP was set up and your pension savings moved into it to fund the scheme, the failure is more serious still. Pension capital is protected and should never go into unregulated schemes. That loss reaches into retirement and every plan built around what those savings would provide. A solicitor who advised on that transfer without explaining what was at risk has a great deal to answer for.
Your solicitor had an undisclosed connection to the promoter
Many investors were never told their solicitor was connected to, or had a financial interest in, the scheme being sold to them. A solicitor in that position cannot give objective advice. The failure to disclose that relationship is itself a breach of duty.
Your solicitor ignored SRA warnings
The Solicitors Regulation Authority issued repeated warnings about solicitor involvement in UCIS schemes. A solicitor who carried on regardless was choosing to ignore professional guidance. The consequences of that choice sit with them.
Funds were released before conditions were met
Where solicitors were responsible for releasing funds, they should have waited until construction was complete, leases were in place, and title was confirmed. If your money went out before those conditions were met, your capital was put at risk without justification.
Recovery is still possible
Typical losses in UCIS cases run from £30,000 to £120,000, and often more where a pension was involved. Where the solicitor failed in their duty, the claim runs through their professional indemnity insurance. Even where the scheme has collapsed and the promoters are gone, there is often a solvent insurer behind the solicitor and a real prospect of recovery.
Time is running
You generally have six years from the solicitor's failure, or three years from when you knew you had a claim. Where a scheme collapsed years after the investment was made, the timing can be complicated. Delay reduces your options. Talk to us now.
You did not take a risk with your eyes open. You were placed into one without being told. That failure is recoverable.
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