Was I scammed by Ajay Ahuja? I live in the UK and invested in a rental property in the USA In March 2008. The property was sourced by Ajay Ahuja and his Ahuja Group. It never made income, as promised by the Ahuja Group and its preferred third parties in the US.

Still trusting these people, a few months later I purchased a second rental property, hoping to bail out the first. It also failed miserably. Now, just over one year later, both properties are threatened with foreclosure.

Only days after paying a large "sourcing fee" to Ajay for the first property I suffered a major heart attack. Obviously I survived and fortunately I reversed my heart disease otherwise my partner could have been left alone to deal with this financial disaster. My dream of extra retirement income turned into a nightmare. I feel I have a duty to share my story as a warning to others about trusting people like Ajay.

I trusted Ajay Ahuja, also known as Ahuja Holdings, Ahuja Group, www.ahuja.co.uk, www.propertysourcer.com/,etc. I did not consider myself naive. Over the years I have worked my way up the property ladder and been a (good) landlord. I believed the claims on Ajay's website and in his literature that profits could be made by investing in US property.

More recently I have found the name Ajay Ahuja connected with terms such as conman, con artist, swindler, crook, etc. Thankfully, I even learned that Ajay has already been successfully prosecuted at least once already here in the UK.

The Ajay Contract

Notice that in his contract on the right. Ajay promises properties yielding 20% or more. (My partner says Ajay forgot to put a minus sign in front of the figure of 20%)

Notice that the USA buying trip is crossed out. If Ajay's UK clients ever got to the USA and saw his "sourced" properties for themselves, lack of tenants, etc. then there would be far less Ajay victims, if any.

Notice that Ajay didn't sign the contract.

Ajay provides what is known as a property sourcing service. I was required to pay £2,750 for details of the first property and £3,500 for details of the second property in Buffalo, USA.

Later I discovered such information is available for free at sites such as RightMove.com

At Rightmove I found full details of numerous properties for sale in Buffalo and other such areas. Many of these rental properties were already under stable management with long-term tenants, and other information.

The property sourcing fee I paid to Ajay could easily have purchased a rental property in Buffalo complete with tenants and a proven rental history.

Ajay recommended WNY4RENT.COM to manage my property. (See image on the right,) WNY property management are located in Buffalo and there was no reason to suppose they would have any significant problems managing my newly purchased Buffalo property with its three tenants and Ajay's assurance of "no void period".

When rental income failed to appear from the property I queried WNY. Initially they seemed unaware there were any tenants in the property. They eventually informed me the tenant in the back unit did not pay rent but maintained the property and collected the rents from the other two tenants. When WNY told him he was now required to pay rent he departed the property. Next WNY informed me the unit had been vandalised and all the plumbing/copper had been taken. I was sent a bill for over $11,000 to make the unit tenantable again.

I deferred paying that amount. It seemed more cost effective to instead add a second tenanted property. I still believed Ajay in the UK and his preferred people in Buffalo - the real estate agent and the property management people, WNY. Obviously more rents would pay the damage bill faster - I figured.

To cut a long story short, after reassurances all round, I went ahead with a second rental property purchase in September 2008. With four new tenants added to the remaining two, it promised to bring in enough rental income to turn the situation around.

After the deposit and paperwork went through I was informed that in fact there were no tenants in the second property. There was no explanation as to what happened to the four tenants.

In addition to paying for the required inspection, I also had both the Buffalo real estate agent and WNY attend the property. I was assured it was in excellent, rentable order. I said I could only go ahead with the purchase if tenants could soon be put into the property. WNY assured me this would not be a problem.

Months later there were still no tenants in the second property. WNY suggested I form an LLC to allow me to have section 8 housing assistance tenants. The LLC cost me $817.

WNY soon put in two section 8 tenants but have been unable to collect all the rent. In addition there is a $1100 plumbing bill for repairs required when the water was turned on plus $1,044.36 for City Taxes.

Meanwhile there are unpaid bills at the first property. These include recently discovered water bill of $3,556.84 plus $509.64

October 2009 and WNY informs me it's necessary to begin eviction proceedings against the two section 8 tenants plus the two tenants at my first property who are no longer paying. Eviction costs are $480x4 for evictions = $1,920 plus $100 for each extra court appearance.

The above is all in addition to what I have already paid - 10% of rents collected by WNY for management, lawn-mowing costs, winterization costs, landlord's insurance (which didn't cover the damage to the first property because it was "vandalization"), etc.

Surely Ajay - and his staff/agents - should and would have known more about the recession, downturn, economic condtions, whatever in 2008 than most. Despite this, his contracts  promise properties yielding 20% or more.

As I say, one tenant at my 1st property had never paid rent at all (instead he'd been maintaining the property and collecting rents from the other 2 tenants) so Ajay's figures for it were quite false. There were no tenants - therefore zero yield at best - in the 2nd property. In fact any yield is way, way in the negative due to actual costs such as city taxes, water bills, vandalism, winterization, lawn fees,etc.

It's Not Just Ajay

It's not just Ajay in the UK. There's also something rotten in the state of Buffalo (or anywhere else) when -

1. Real estate agents can sell properties promoted as tenanted - without tenants.

2. Where property managers can promise to easily get (four) tenants and then fail to get any. (Especially when I made it very clear that I could only support a second property if it was quickly tenanted.), when they can suddenly discover bills unpaid for 12 months plus, etc. etc, ad nauseam

3. When compulsory landlord insurance refuses to pay out on property damage.

Operating from the UK overseas landlords are entirely dependant on the "preferred third parties" on the ground in Buffalo. These guys all know that!

They know better than anyone - certainly far better than novice would-be landlords from overseas - the huge amounts - city taxes, water bills, repair bills, insurance, winterization, lawn fees,etc. that must be paid. They knew I was already stuck with paying the $12,000 vandalization bill - now with 1 tenant less - for the first property. And now I had twice the committment, but Instead of tenants I only get more and more of this -

"Dear Buffalo Property Owners:

The summer season is upon us, and the grass is growing! We will be charging $40 per month per property. This will assure a beautiful and violation free lawn all summer long!

We will set up automated billing which will deduct the monthly fee from your portfolio income beginning May 1, 2008. If we receive a check or credit card number before May 1, you will receive the entire season for $200 which is one full month off!"

As your property management in Western New York, it is our duty to make sure that your property is kept up. Lawn maintenance is an easy target for fines, which come to the property owner, and, worst case scenario, can land you in housing court."

How about this -

"Charles, I have called the appropriate parties. Of course I have some wonderful news for you. The rear building at xxx Niagara also known as xxx Niagara has its own water meter/account. The balance is $3,556.84 and an unpaid user fee (garbage) of $509.64. These bills have not been seen by anyone since you purchased the property as I was unaware that they were separate bills/tax properties! Due to lack of funds, xx Duerstein city tax for this year is still unpaid of $1,044.36."

Comments Welcome

I hope this page helps expose more of the goings on behind the hype and lies of property sourcing scams and people like Ajay Ahuja. Need I mention the sleepless nights and countless times of waking up not out of a nightmare but into this one?

Have you had a similar experience? I am quickly discovering there are other victim like myself - how many, I don't know. Your comments are welcome. Also helpful advice, etc.

Thanks for reading. As I try to dig myself out of this dark hole this page will keep evolving.

More and more people in the UK are coming forward about losing money with Ajay Ahuja. Here is a short BBC video I just discovered showing what it takes to get money back from Ajay.