Membership section- Conditions

Membership conditions

The name of the club is Property Pension Club Ltd, it is a limited company registered in England

The address is Club Services, PO Box 887, Cheltenham, GL52 9WY, telephone 01242-678988, to send a fax call the phone number and ask the best number to send it to.

The club has made arrangements for members in the UK to be able to communicate with the club through Club Services a division of Maximum Coverage Ltd who provide administration and subscription services for this club and many other clubs and non profit organisations, and have been doing so for many years. 

Maxim Coverage Ltd  are not agents for the club but contracted by the club, through NAISC, to provide specific services including some subscription and other administration in relation to UK members.

Objective

The Property Pension Club's objectives are:-

• To encourage the flow of information in relation to using property as a means of creating wealth, developing a pension fund, or generating an income stream from a fund.
• To encourage people who have a desire to use property in relation to a pension fund or other wealth fund to co-operate, share information and experience.
• To highlight property related opportunities that are relevant. 
• To encourage the development of projects, developments and franchises that will help those interested in using property either to create a pension fund or to get income from a capital fund.
• To help identify exceptional opportunities anywhere in the world but to also explore the risks associated with these.
• To specifically provide member services to help people find property independent of sellers or agents on commissions.
• To help others or to work in co-operation with others  with similar objectives.
• To help you achieve more than you could on your own.

The club 

• Has a range of membership types, so has something for everyone. Many with help available, and access to other services offered by other clubs as well.
• Receives no commissions from promoting any service to members, unless they are informed of it.
• Takes the viewpoint and supports those interested in using property in connection with a pension fund.
• Does not run courses, nor act as estate agents, accountants or sell insurance.
• Is not financial advisors.
• Sets about objective its objectives, by not directly provide a full range of services itslelf but arranging through a commissioning structure and  service companies, co-operative ventures,  or  through members.

The Clubs Finances

The club is not intended to make a profit, but has to cover its own costs. If it has more funds it can promote itself to more people.

It is not necessary for people to become a member to use information on the public web site or to attend free public events  put on fro time to time.  

In some cases where a service is offered through more than one club, the club believes that a member would be best served by one of the other clubs it works closely with, then they can have their joining costs if any, credited towards the membership costs of the other club. 

Link fees from the web site, may produce very small income as in the case of a link to a book site where a book is for sale. Reviews of books will only however be produced as the book justifies, not as an income generator. Wherever it  can the club aims to make its own  publications free to members and in some cases to the public, although may make a small charge for local area studies to cover the expenses involved in producing them. Some of their overseas reports and the Holiday Property Club co-productions are priced higher due to the higher cost of researching on the ground around the world.

Initial support to get the club going came from New Atlantis a non profit company limited by guarantee, which has the objective of improving the life of its members. New Atlantis also covered initial expenses involving web site development and has provided both equipment and other resources. New Atlantis members have the same access to this club as any other person. The club does not have to repay New Atlantis, or have any other commitments to them, beyond co-operating with other New Atlantis projects.

The principle income of the club comes from joining fees, subscriptions and charges for services. These charges may vary , and are set out on the clubs website

Perspective members will be invited to join as associate members with membership types of Bronze, Silver. gold, Platinum and Diamond, each type representing a difference balance of joining fees, subscriptions, included services and service charges.

Copper membership type: (Associate members prior to Sept 2004) is now closed to new members. All Copper members have been offered the chance to switch to other member types, which have far more included within the membership. The definition of services and rates includes those applicable to the cooper member type.

These types (except copper) also line up with some other clubs, and this club, like some other clubs are moving into line with Property Club International and the Self Build Homes Club, so that more services can be included to members, by co-operaton.

The structure

The club is a limited company, to protect those who serve it. Administration is done by Club Services, a division of Maximum Coverage Ltd that provides similar services for non profit organizations, including New Atlantis. 

Services are provided by Maximum Coverage Ltd or by others who we have screened and who are providing services for members only and not offering a similar service to the public, most will be provided by other organizations or businesses we have experience of or by experienced members we have got to know well. Many of the major services will be provided through NAISC New Atlantis International Services Corporation, that can make use of people and companies in many countries to meet your needs, although packaged in such a way as to allow you a single competent contact. 

Becoming a member of the club, involves you in no commitments or direct cost whatsoever beyond any membership subscription applicable to your membership type, you are not becoming a shareholder or official of the company. Membership is a privilege, that we may withdraw if we find you are not a good member. 

Service provision

The club uses a method of service provision to members where it has a commissioner of services, who is NAISC, New Atlantis International Services Corporation, and they commission individual services from other providers. This means that you have a local contact to administer the work for the club and collect subscriptions and another, a consultant who manages the other services you get, so it feels like a very personal service, and the international scale is not obvious until you want to develop in another country. The advantages to the club is scalability, cost effectiveness and needing minimal management overheads. Some services are also provided with or by other clubs that work in co-operation using similar commissioning structures, these are a combination of joint ventures and joint commissioning activities.

Members join the club directly, introduced by another member, the service providers are carrying out functions, they are not agents of the club, but employed indirectly by it to provide quality services. While this sounds complicated you will find it is transparent and works just fine.

Most services, and local activity are arranged by a consultant allocated by the club, this gives members a personal contact and the consultants know how to draw on other services available.

Membership

The club has various types of membership as defined above; people can pay a once only fee as a life member or a joining fee and monthly or annual subscription. Arrangements exist within the rules for people to change membership types.

Nearly all members are associate members; they are not shareholders of the company.

Becoming an associate member involves

1. Applying for membership as an associate member, and agreeing to be bound by its rules
2. Paying a joining fee or becoming a life member
3. Paying a monthly or annual subscription, if not a life member
4. Supporting the club, and not doing anything that could harm it
5. Being pleasant to other members, club officers and directors and others asked by the club to help in the provision of services.
6. Keeping confidential any information the club shares with you.

All payments to the club including joining fees and subscriptions are made through Maximum Coverage Ltd, in UK pounds. 

The club reserves the right to turn down applications for membership from anyone it chooses. If membership is refused any payment made will be refunded in full.

Leaving the club

You can leave by giving six months notice

When you leave you have to give back any items that belong to the club.

You will be expelled if you

• Get 3 months behind with your subscriptions
• Disclose information on the club or members
• You do anything that will harm the club, those who run it, service providers or other members
• Act dishonestly with anyone connected with the club

Advice

While the club and those who provide services for its members will do their best to check all facts presented, neither the club, its officers, directors or any consultant, commissioned service provider, or support company we use is responsible for any oversight or error that occurs.

Information provided on the web site should be considered equivalent to that found in a quality magazine or newspaper and may contain some errors or situations may have changed and the information not updated.

While those working with the club do their best to bring to you the best opportunities, and will help you to understand your needs, what is on offer and the options open to you, they do not offer financial, investment or legal advice nor project managements services.

In the case of a land purchase or joint project you are joining, individually members need, by whatever means they can, to check all facts presented to them, that they are correct, complete, and that it is relevant to them.

Quality control and fraud prevention

The club has a special email address, listed on all main websites and we ask members to inform the club if:-

• They do not feel the service they are getting is good enough
• They think someone working with the club is also working with someone else
• Anyone asks for information on the club, any activities of the club, or about any member
• Anyone offers a dodgy deal or to influence planning consent for a fee
• Any other reason you think you should

The club will not become involved in money laundering or handling funds that has come about through illegal activities. If you want us to handle money transfers for you of over £10,000 we will probably insist on evidence of where the money came from, otherwise its down to your bank and solicitor to monitor cash they handle.

Interpretation of the rules

The club has tried to present these rules as clear and as much in plain English as possible, with additional explanations where possible, so that members will be able to fully understand them, however this may mean that some parts could be interpreted in other ways than intended. If a member has any questions on interpretation they should ask and the club will do its best to put them straight as to what we intended to have said.

Changes to the rules

This version of the rules became effective as at December 1st 2004, since that only minor spelling and similar corrections have been made