Brenda wasn't told that a deferral period was in force and would delay access to her invested funds.
What happened
Brenda was advised to invest £8,000 into a property fund. Although the fund's terms and conditions said a deferral period might be applied, the business didn’t tell Brenda that one had already been in place for over a month.
A deferral period is a waiting time during which investors can’t receive benefits or make withdrawals.
Some months later, Brenda wanted to access her money. That’s when she found out that a deferral period had been in place ever since she invested. She complained that she wouldn’t have invested if she’d known this.
Unhappy with the business’s response, she brought her complaint to us.
What we said
We said that when the business made its recommendation, it should have told Brenda that a deferral period was being applied to investors trying to leave the fund. This information was key for Brenda to make an informed decision about whether to invest.
We were satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, Brenda wouldn’t have invested if she’d known that a deferral period had been in place at the time. So, we upheld her complaint.