A student lettings platform has been exposed for misleading investors while raising £470,000 in a crowdfunding pitch by boasting it would become the ‘Uber of student rentals’.
Edinburgh-based Student Rents, run by father and son team Grant MacCusker and Jamie Stewart, secured funding from 179 investors, and claimed three other highly experienced people were part of their team, according to an investigation by STV News.
However, photographs of chief product and technology officer Phillip Scott, who was listed as having previously worked for Ebay and Shopify, chief operating officer Kirsty Wilson, and Nicola Wood were found to be stock images. Ebay and Shopify confirmed nobody called Phillip Scott had ever worked there.
Until last Friday, MacCusker was registered as a director of both Lettinglord, the legal name of Student Rents, and Letting Cloud, but his appointment has now ended, according to Companies House.
The pair also fabricated a buyout of Letting Cloud by Airbnb, according to STV.
5,000 agents
The firm claimed it had more than 5,000 agents advertising more than 500,000 properties. But Airbnb denied any relationship or acquisition of Letting Cloud, and told STV News the claims were “fabricated”. When asked, Letting Cloud said the matter was in the hands of its lawyers.
CrowdCube told STV News: “We are aware of the reported allegations and are conducting an investigation. At this stage, we cannot provide further comment.”
The news channel contacted Students Rents and Letting Cloud which did not deny the claims made in its article. A spokesperson for Student Rents said: “We are actively working with Crowdcube to resolve any issues and reporting on this issue doesn’t help either party at this moment in time.”
LandlordZONE has tried to contact Student Rents.
