What is she up to?

[DontVisitCabotCove]

DB, his partner “Jane” & her 2 kids have been staying with me - in my house - after the house they were buying fell through. They had been looking at other properties to buy but have since decided to end their relationship so that’s no longer happening.

Yesterday while my DB and I were out and unbeknownst to me, Jane had an estate agent over to value my house & as he was leaving he told her he’d send her an email with the valuation & they were talking about viewings etc.

Today Jane asked me to give her a letter stating that my brother is living here but wouldn’t tell me why she wanted it & was really unhappy when I said I’d give her a letter saying they were both temporarily staying with me as that’s the actual truth.

What on earth could she be up to? I’m honestly baffled!

Should I tell her that I know about the valuation? Should I tell my DB about all of this?

On one hand I don’t want to get involved in their troubles or make things worse (things are bad enough between them already) but on the other hand I feel I’m being drawn into it as it’s my bloody house she had valued!

You should contact the police

If you had the agent leaving, you surely had them arriving. Usually they identify themselves. Easy enough to ring the agents.

there’s legislation covering the duty on agents to make sure the person they’re dealing with is the actual legal owner.

I think it will take a while for the land registration to be in place, I think you really need to be much more pro active and contact all the estate agents in the area, and find out what was requested. If they won’t give you that info I think you should contact the police.

I did the Land Registry Alert on line and it was almost immediate, the written confirmation too longer but I believe it happens quickly on line.

Yes, I've just signed up for the land registration: it seems to be active straight away and has told me there is currently not activity against my property.
I'm not worried about estate agents, and I still have a mortgage so that seems to help, but I have had someone I don't know registering for the electoral roll using my address.

Thanks again guys, I feel a bit of an idiot to be honest as any sort of fraud didn’t even enter my mind. My head is all over the place with trying to come to terms with my updated prognosis plus physically coping with treatment; I’m not usually this much of a dummy, I swear! Thank goodness for MN and also for the delivery driver putting my parcel in my wheelie bin instead of ringing the bell.

To answer some more questions:

1. All my ID and personal documents are completely secure, they’re in a locked safe that no one (apart from my parents who are my LPAs) even knows about
2. Due to my illness, my affairs are all in order and I have a solicitor so when I contact them about the Form LL restriction, I’ll check if there’s anything else I need to do
3. I didn’t give Jane the letter she asked for so she won’t have a copy of my signature
4. No I don’t have children and yes my DB is set to inherit (along with my other siblings) but as they’re not married I don’t believe she will have a claim on anything
5. Yes their house purchase genuinely fell through and I have no suspicions about my DB’s motives as he’s already benefitted but Jane will definitely be worse off now they’ve broken up
6. I don’t know much about Jane’s rental situation apart from her move in date and that she needs some furniture which I offered
7. I have a DP but we don’t live together full time (due to him having kids) but he’s away at the moment

My DB is absolutely furious as obviously I don’t need this right now and he’s as baffled as I am. He’s told me he’ll get to the bottom of it though and get me the name of the estate agent and also encouraged me to log it with police as some of you have.

Okay, this is leftfield but is it possible that she is having an affair and the person popped round and pretended to be (rather oddly) an estate agent?

Appreciate it is odd suggestion! Have you looked at when the person arrived?

Cabot Cove is where Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote fame lives, and has an unusually high number of murders for a sleepy little town 🤣 You’d be wise not to visit! (Though that would be challenging as it’s fictional!).

I didn’t even need to google this. I have got to watch less tv…😂

It takes effect immediately after completing the online procedure.

OP, so sorry you are going through this, but it's good your brother is on the case now.

This is an excellent point. If she fraudulently put OP forward as guarantor she would be liable for the rent in the event of default.

How do you know they were discussing your house and not rental properties or the valuation of another property?

Estate agents can easily verify the legal owner of a property, so they are very dodgy. Unless, she pretendded to be you!!!!! 😮

She has an absolute nerve asking an estate agent to value your house. I reckon she could be reported to the police for fraud. You need to order her to leave immediately. She is not to be trusted. I wouldn't allow her in my house again.

It sounds like your DB has your back and is going to help you deal with this.

(On the other hand, they could be married and you are unaware of this. What she has done is very murky so keep your eyes wide open.)

Serve her notice to leave in however many weeks you have to legally. Obviously tell her the reason is because she is having your house valued and seemingly trying to sell it?! She sounds utterly mad. Tell your brother you are kicking her out and why. Also speak to the EA who came round. Find out how she was playing the whole thing, if she was fully claiming to be the owner, literally organising viewings etc. She sounds like a total nightmare.
After notice served, do not speak to her or engage with her unless absolutely necessary.

Good point. Very strange situation.

Very odd behaviour by Jane. I haven’t read all posts but if you have no mortgage please get a unilateral notice on your property register asap - you don’t need a solicitor for this. It will prevent someone potentially remortgaging or even selling your home fraudulently. And whilst that’s a big leap it’s possible - and if she has time alone in your house she has potential access to bills and statements in your name which can facilitate fraud. I’d be very wary and confront her outright, and change the locks just in case.

This is so creepy. I am going to have nightmares about this. Please update when she’s moved out. Thank goodness your brother is supportive in this.

I hope you're not giving her that furniture now. That one action, getting your house valued, shows you she's no friend of yours.

It's the weirdest thing for her to do. I've heard programmes on the radio where people sell someone else's house - this BBC article talks about something similar. I can't think why she would get a valuation if it wasn't to sell it.

Luton 'stolen' house owner still fighting to get home back - BBC News

Do you think she wants you to be guarantor for her rental. So she's pretending to be you to get a valuation, to prove you have a home and your letter to forge your signature. Just a thought.

Ok she needs to go and so does your brother. He maybe entirely innocent but the circumstances are really odd.
They move in, he stands to inherit and she wants to prove that he has some sort of beneficial right to your property before he has inherited the property and has it valued without your consent so that she can stake a claim to it.
Two things:
Where did you and your brother go when the estate agent was over? Who planned it and how long were you out?
What exactly are the circumstances of their house sale falling through? What do u know about their finances. Do they have the funding/deposit for their new home?

In these circumstances nobody, not even their children should stay with you until you get to the bottom of it. Sit down with your brother and her and if possible another trusted third party and tell them that they need to leave.

Find and contact the estate agent so you know what she said to him about house ownership, why she was getting it valued etc.

You do know that she wanted that letter so she could get 1/3 of the value of the house, correct?
If you gave her a letter saying your brother lives there, she can go after it. At least try. She needs to get the hell out of there.

That's just nonsense. It doesn't belong to her brother - the fact he was staying there means nothing. The girlfriend isn't married to the brother and they don't have any children together. The OP owns the house; nobody else has a claim to it.