To not realise people can steal houses?

[radiatorsz]

Read this story

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-59069662.amp

wtf!!!

How can this happen and how is it a civil matter? How can you stop this happening?

The police are doing a fraud investigation now (prompted by the BBC article...). It sounds like a knee jerk rreaction you the police that it was a civil "dispute" as the real owner was obviously confused as to how and what had happened. At that point he wouldn't have realised his identity had been stolen, nor when he made the subsequent online report?

Madness all round really.

Sign up for Land Registry alerts and you get an email if there's any activity on your property: propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/
That way you'll see if there's anything unusual being submitted.

You can set up an alert with the Land Registry which will email you when anyone conducts a search on your property. It also sends you a six monthly summary of any searches.

The article explains how it happened, OP.

@Boomquiffa thanks

admittedly I saw it on the news this morning but needed to link some context so will read the article properly now!

I heard about this case - it’s awful! But my thinking was that the solicitors were at fault, for not doing the required checks on the seller, who had stolen the real owner’s identity. I’m sure I recall having to produce various forms of ID in the house buying/selling process, and I’m guessing that whatever ID was used in this case, was not thoroughly checked by the solicitors.

I'm quite shocked at this. I'm wondering how the house was sold at such a low price too.

Yeah, this is horrific. Can’t understand how it’s a civil matter.

That's shocking.

They must have used a fake driving licence, and there should surely be some way for conveyancers to check if they're genuine.

Unless of course the CFs did their own conveyancing.

@Bagamoyo1 I sold a house last year and I had to turn up in person in the middle of lockdown to my solicitors to prove it was me selling it. I actually suspect this is fully organised crime all around because the person buying it bought it at such a low price and the way it works is once their name is on land registry they are guaranteed to get to keep the property.

I don't understand how the police did not consider identity theft to be a crime?

@Sparklfairy the real owner lost all of his belongings inside the house too. How is that not a police matter

Wow! It’ll be interesting to see how this gets resolved for the original owner. He’s clearly not been back to the house for several months so I wonder if the fraudsters are specifically watching out for seemingly empty houses to do this to

@sausageflowers it is obviously, but I can see an attending police officer jumping to the conclusion that "this is the new legal owner, old owner abandoned their stuff inside the property, new owner disposed of it... therefore civil matter."

At first glance no crime had been committed as all the sale and ownership paperwork checked out, so I can see how it happened.

I feel so sorry for him

I don't think I could see a police officer doing that if they did their job properly, sounds like gross incompetence . Surely all crime should be looked into before being brushed off brazenly. The old owner was away for work, definitely didn't abandon it. Hence why a neighbour rang them to let them know about the lights being on.

I saw the thread that was posted yesterday on this and signed up to the land Registry notification. If it's the same poster who has linked it today, thank you, I lost the thread yesterday and didn't manage to post.

this happened to a journalist/presenter, can't remember who, well before lockdown. I remember it because we had a tenant many years previously who was still getting mail at my address. I had been just returning it to the building society but when I read this, I opened the next letter and phoned them explaining that I knew that the letters were confidential but I was concerned because of the recent newspaper article. They confirmed to me that they would take the address off his account but until they were "officially" told that he no longer lived there, they were required to carry on sending them. They put me onto the Land Registry alerts thing.
yup....2015....yes I know its Max Hastings but still worth a read. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3356929/The-thieves-stole-wife-s-house-sold-1-3million.html

There is a civil element and a criminal element. Fraud has definitely been committed, and the perpetrator of that fraud (the person who stole the house) should be charged.

Dealing with the ownership of the house is a civil matter. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing have some questions to answer - they clearly haven’t performed adequate identity checks.

Feel so, so sorry for this poor man.

@sausageflowers have you had many dealings with the police? That's exactly what they would do. They look for the most obvious answer - if at the time it looks like a legit sale and no evidence of break in or fraud of course they will say its a civil matter.

Evidence of stolen identity only came to light later if you read the article, and it sounds like the "real" owner went to the press instead of back to the police.

I saw this yesterday. It’s awful and also sounds as if the solicitor didn’t do due diligence or somehow the person managed to get fake ID, bank accounts etc.

@rslsys

You can set up an alert with the Land Registry which will email you when anyone conducts a search on your property. It also sends you a six monthly summary of any searches.

Thank you for this - I’ve just set one up for my house.

The point is that the underlying problem is the identity fraud that enabled the house sale & theft of belongings. I would guess that that part the police are investigating.