£36,000 in Fees, Five Purchases and a Complete Loss of Confidence
I am not someone who typically writes public reviews. However, after more than two years as a client, purchasing five properties through Blue Skies and paying approximately £36,000 in sourcing fees, I feel compelled to share my experience.
**Key reasons for this review**
- Purchased 5 properties through Blue Skies and paid approximately £36,000 in sourcing fees.
- Paid approximately £6,000 sourcing fee on a property where the introduced CIC tenant arrangement later failed, resulting in possession proceedings, substantial rent arrears and several thousand pounds in legal costs.
- Subsequently discovered the tenant company had multiple County Court Judgments totaling approximately £62,000 which pre-dated completion and were publicly discoverable during the period Blue Skies claimed to have undertaken due diligence on the tenant, raising serious concerns regarding the adequacy of those checks.
- Tenant had no filed accounts, provided no deposit, and rent was structured four weeks in arrears.
- Requests for a direct discussion regarding these concerns were ignored by Matt Robson, requiring repeated chasing for responses.
- Ultimately removed all four serviced accommodation properties from Blue Skies' management following a complete loss of confidence.
As an experienced property investor, I understand that investments carry risk. My concerns relate not to the fact that problems arose, but to the level of due diligence, risk management and communication when they did.
The turning point was a property sourced through Blue Skies involving a social housing / supported housing tenant arrangement via Everyone Matters Homes CIC.
Within months of completion, the arrangement had broken down, resulting in rent arrears, possession proceedings and significant legal costs.
Following my own investigations, I discovered the tenant company had multiple County Court Judgments totaling approximately £62,000 which pre-dated completion and were publicly discoverable. I also discovered there were no filed accounts, no deposit had been taken and rent was payable four weeks in arrears.
Blue Skies informed me that due diligence, references and banking checks had been carried out. However, given the lack of filed accounts, absence of any meaningful security and the adverse credit history already in existence at the time, I could not reconcile those facts with the level of due diligence I believed had been undertaken.
What frustrated me most was not that the tenancy failed. Property investment always carries risk. It was the apparent lack of accountability once the problems became obvious.
I specifically requested a direct phone call with Matt Robson to discuss the situation. That request was ignored and I found myself repeatedly chasing for responses despite having been a long standing client.
I acknowledge that Blue Skies later contributed approximately £1,150 towards legal costs and attempted to engage with the tenant. However, given the wider consequences of the tenancy failure, I did not feel this reflected meaningful accountability.
Following the breakdown in trust, I removed all four serviced accommodation properties from Blue Skies' management. During the handover process I experienced further issues, including delays obtaining important compliance documentation.
I would also encourage prospective investors to carefully assess the SA model being promoted. In my experience, occupancy often averaged closer to 40-50%, and once £13,000 onboarding costs per property, management fees and operating expenses were factored in, profitability was well below expectations and considerably less attractive than a vanilla buy-to-let investment.
It is disappointing that this has reached the stage of a public review because I genuinely believe it could have been resolved privately through better communication and stronger commercial engagement.
After two years, five properties and significant capital committed, I ultimately lost confidence both in the due diligence process and in the way serious issues were handled when they arose.