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 don't need a house valuation to be a guarantor! They might prefer home owners but generally they are interested in the guarantor's income rather than the value of the property.

Even impersonating someone to get a guarantor implies that they know you won't do it, for a reason and that they are liable to default otherwise you would.

Given the guarantor scenario is the best case scenario, you have to assume it's an attempt to defraud and treat as such by taking the 'off the deep end' response. Which it sounds like the OP is doing.

The second you impersonate someone you have criminal intent.

That's one helluva reach. I went to a conference a couple of months ago under a colleague's name. Stood at the reception desk and told them I was Jo Reynolds*. Jo was unable to attend because of a last minute train issue, I was in a position to drive there, someone needed to attend. Jo tried to phone the organisers to warn them but no one answered. When I rocked up at the very busy registration desk it seemed easier all round to announce myself as Jo Reynolds rather than to explain what had happened and wait around while everything got checked and a new lanyard was printed and issued. No nefarious intent, no harm done.

*Not her real name.

Yes, but in that example you had Jo's permission to impersonate her (even if not explicitly, she knew you were going in her place). Its the impersonating without the other person's knowledge that is bad. If you'd gone to the conference without Jo knowing, and essentially stolen her place that would be criminal intent.

This is a fascinating thread. Jane clearly has bad bones and is / was up to no good.
Thank goodness she was found at at this relatively early stage, Jane sounds quite organised/informed and this could have got very messy.

Why would you tip her off? That would give her the opportunity to put in some work to cover her tracks.
Let her think she's got away with it until you've gathered enough evidence and figured out what she's up to etc.

Fucking hell. Well whether it's to try and scam you or DB, and whether now or in the future it's completely dodgy. I wonder if she has a history of it?

I’ve spoken to my DB, sent him the footage and he’s going to deal with her so she won’t be coming back

Good, OP. When was the last time you saw her, when did she leave the house?

Also, does she know your brother is going to inherit some of your estate?

No, Jo expected me to explain and register in my own name when I got there. I took the decision that with the conference about to start it was easier and quicker to impersonate her for the day than to faff around reregistering.

The PP had posted
The second you impersonate someone you have criminal intent.

No, Jo expected me to explain and register in my own name when I got there. I took the decision that with the conference about to start it was easier and quicker to impersonate her for the day than to faff around reregistering.

No harm done then...until you steal some stationery, heckle a guest speaker and get sloshed and tarnish the company name, all as the innocent Jo Reynolds...

Jane, IMO, is a disgrace. Even if its for a less 'threatening' reason such as demonstrating/inflating her own wealth/status for personal
means, the fact she is putting unnecesaary stress on OP at this time (when OP is doing her a favour putting her up) is abhorrent.

OP, I hope you are able to park this and put your health issues first at least for some time today.

I would be livid if someone walked around with my name tag on all day. That’s really awful.

Abeona why didn't you just cross out Jo's name on the badge and write yours in?

I cannot understand why you are even tolerating this woman in your house. Tell your brother, then tell the estate agent that this woman does not own one brick of your house and she has no authority to put it on the market. If you haven't already, get her out asap.

@Abeona your post reminds me of an episode of Miranda when she was mistaken for a woman called Amanda who was booked to run a seminar. Hopefully you didn't have to jump out of a window like Miranda did 🤣🤣

🤦

I haven't rtft so someone else may have suggested this. Could she be trying to establish some kind of habitation rights to your property? Either to try to remain in it or to borrow against it.

You don't have to have rtft to think that at 28pages, this angle's probably been covered.

You said that the estate agents would reveal the email address, phone no etc. I presume this is due to GDPR. However, if they thought you were the sender, then they should be able to give them to you.

A lot of companies record phone calls nowadays. Can you request to listen to these to see who phoned?

It is indeed a strange story.

Mine are on paper, but I'm in Scotland.

Good idea about the phone call! Whether they’ll let you or not is another matter.

Weird one about the data. The caller said they were OP – name, address – so presumably the phone no. & email can be revealed to her as the named subject and owner of the property in question

If they only have the OPs details (name and address) then they will have to supply the requested info under a SAR as the OP can provide ID that she is that person. Legally they have to provide you with information they hold about you and they’ve already told her they believed they were dealing with her so all personal information will be hers

please tell me that after all my this you have told her to move out straight away .

Yes it’s a bit of a brain teaser but presumably Jane sent an email along the lines of “I am Don’tVisitCabitCave” and therefore that is information held about DontvisitCabotCave that the real DontVisitCabotCave is entitled to have. I don’t think I can explain it very well, but essentially the information about DontVisitCabotCave exists regardless of whether it actually came from the real one or not.

I suppose another example would be if a neighbour emailed the estate agent to say Don'tvisitcabotcave wants to sell their house. Now this information may be completely untrue but it is about DontVisitCabotCave and she is therefore entitled to see it.

The point is, the information may not be from her, but it is still information about her.

When Jane tried to gaslight you into believing you had arranged the EA to come round, you should have said that if that was the case, then you'd have evidence in your sent items in your email, or call logs to the EA on your phone, but you don't so she is clearly lying.