Samuel Leeds

Samuel Luke Leeds (born 11 April 1991) is a British social media influencer, property trainer and investor. In 2016 he founded a property education company that sells courses and mentoring in property investment. His marketing, course pricing and business practices have been the subject of media scrutiny and criticism, including an investigation in The Economist's 1843 Magazine and reporting by The Guardian and the BBC.

Early life and career

Leeds attended Emmanuel School, a private Christian school in Walsall. He left school at 16 with no qualifications. He later attended the Birmingham Bible Institute.

Leeds claims to have bought his first property before the age of 18, taking out a mortgage in his step-father's name as he was too young to take one out himself.

In the 2010 United Kingdom general election he stood for election as a Christian Party candidate for Birmingham Selly Oak. He received a 0.3% share of the vote.

Leeds started his property education business in 2016.

In 2018 Leeds and his brother purchased Ribbesford House, a historic English mansion near Bewdley in Worcestershire for £810,000. Leeds claimed that when the project was completed, Ribbesford House could be worth more than £6.35 million. Restoration work began but the building proved to be in a worse condition than the brothers had expected. Their £1 million restoration budget had to be doubled to £2 million. By March 2023 work had restarted. In October 2024 Leeds revealed that after multiple failed attempts at getting planning permission from the local council, he would not finish the project until planning permission was granted. Ribbesford House was listed for sale at auction on 5 November 2025. The guide price was £1.1 million. The property was listed for auction for a second time, taking place on 28 January 2026. The guide price was lowered to £900,000. Ribbesford House was sold in March 2026 for £450,000.

In 2023 Leeds and his brother launched Samuel Leeds Finance, a lending initiative offering funding for Samuel Leeds Academy members' projects.

In July 2023, Leeds defeated property investor Rob Moore in a charity boxing match at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, winning by majority decision over three rounds and raising £200,000 for his charitable foundation.

In November 2023 Leeds and his brother paid £1,286,000 for Staden Grange, a hotel in Buxton in Derbyshire.

In 2024 Leeds and his brother reached a deal to rent Willingham House in Willingham in Cambridgeshire to run as an apartment hotel.

Personal life Leeds is married and has four children. Leeds is a supporter of Reform UK. In October 2024, a 64-bed orthopedic ward at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, funded by Leeds, was opened and commissioned by Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga. He emigrated to Dubai to avoid paying "99.9 per cent of my taxes". In July 2026, Leeds pledged to personally fund legal representation for Christian street preachers facing police action in the United Kingdom, stating that he wanted to help ensure they had access to legal representation if they were unfairly targeted while preaching.

Criticism and legal disputes Leeds claims to have a UK property portfolio worth £20 million and charges up to £12,000 for 12 months of coaching. The Daily Telegraph reported that some attendees used savings or loans to pay for courses and did not achieve the results they expected, while others reported successful deals.

In 2017, Leeds paid £4,800 for a meet-and-greet and photograph with Alan Sugar. In 2020, after Leeds had claimed that Sugar had mentored him, Sugar instructed his lawyers to have Leeds remove these claims from his social media and website, dismissing them as "pure fantasy and completely untrue".

In October 2019, Andrew Burgess started a Facebook group called The Truth about Samuel Leeds. The case was struck out in the High Court by Mr Justice Nicklin in May 2024.

In January 2020, BBC News reported on the suicide of Danny Butcher, who had taken out loans to join Samuel Leeds' Academy. Butcher, who had struggled with mental health issues and debt, did not make the money that he thought he would from property investment.

In May 2021, Samuel Leeds launched legal proceedings against Property Tribes co-founder Vanessa Warwick. She also denied any wrongdoing and filed a counter-claim against Leeds for defamation and harassment. The case was eventually settled out of court.

In September 2022, The Guardian reported that Ellisons Solicitors, acting on behalf of Samuel Leeds, had issued legal threats or proceedings against at least 15 individuals or websites in response to criticism of his courses.