CF's have been using my mums house as a hotel!!

[CustardCreamsfortea]

My dm died last year. Her house is currently empty and we're in the process of selling it (on the market but no buyer yet). The house next door is owned by a couple. I knew that DM was friendly with them, but (apart from first names) I don't really know them at all. I'll call them "Jean and John" for this

I went round yesterday to check on the property (we live about 45 mins away) and to do some gardening. When I entered the house I noticed immediately that there was a strong smell of cigarettes. Dm didn't smoke so I thought that was very strange.. 🤔

I went into the kitchen and there's dirty dishes in the sink!? My next thought was that squatters must have moved in. I went back to my car and called Dh and then 101 for advice. The police said they could come out but it would likely be a few hours (at least) before they turned up.

Dh arrived and went into have a look. Nobody appeared to be in the house. No obvious signs of a break in, though there's clothes and stuff everywhere. So we decide, ok fine - let's take this as a warning and get the locks changed before the squatters come back.

I called a locksmith and he's in the process of changing the locks. As he's doing this another neighbour from across the road (let's call her "Anne") comes over to ask what's happening. I explain that I think we've had squatters in the house.

Anne then proceeds to tell me that Jean and John (from next door) have currently got family visiting from abroad at the moment.

But it seems rather than pay for a hotel, The CF's been letting them stay in mothers house!!! 😡😡😡 Anne has seen them coming and going since they arrived on Friday. She didn't have our contact details to check with us, but assumed we'd given permission because they seemingly had a key. We had no idea that they had this key.

When the police eventually turned up we explained all this. They went round to speak to Jean and John but they weren't at home. Said they would try again later in the week. We've bagged up the relatives things and left them on their doorstep (I wanted to burn them but DH talked me out of it). 🙄

Will they police be able to charge them with trespassing or something similar? Or are we just going to have to accept that we were (admittedly) stupid for not changing the locks in the first place and move on? I'm beyond angry with them. 😡

Outrageous

Omg that's crazy! And they're reaction is even more mad.

Why on earth would OP sell to them?

She has the final say on anything. I would rather let it rot over selling it cheap to a CF who pulled this. They would clearly be blacklisted (an the police will clearly place a 'no contact order', they did when our neighbor tried to kick our door in).

Or rent it out to someone who will be a much worse neighbour than John ever could. Tough on Anne though

WRONG

We just got stung for this, the house we where buying was not ever owned by the seller. They THOUGHT they could claim probate but failed probate claim. You can list a house for sale before applying for probate (you just have to claim you believe your the beneficiary) so you do not need to own a house in England to list it for sale.

No repercussion or way to get back the money we lost in the system because technically they did nothing wrong according to our laws.

This.

These people clearly have no understanding of normal boundaries, it's good that it's a police matter now.

It must have been extremely upsetting for you to see your mum's home treated with such disrespect.

It's breaking and entering without permission and vandalism.

Breaking and entering is a crime classified as burglary under the Theft Act 1968. A person commits burglary if they enter a building or part of a building as a trespasser with the intent to steal, inflict grievous bodily harm, or cause unlawful damage.

The Police will decide the charge and hopefully impose bail conditions that exclude him from the area

Related point - not sure if this has been mentioned, but MN folk might be interested in registering here if they are worried about illegal property transfers. You can set this up for any property, e.g. DPs.

HM Land Registry's Property Alert service
www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Bet John was angry because he'd been embarrassed in front of family members and couldn't handle it.

John is a giant man baby.

The wife going into hiding is a good sign. She doesn't want the whole street knowing what's going on.

Hopefully John will be put firmly back in his box and will heed warnings to stay away and the wife will cough up for a new door and clean up of paint etc.

The entitlement is staggering, honestly.

That is horrendous behaviour

Just read this thread, it is shocking.

How can a person believe it's OK to just use/take a neighbours house and then when get found out get a strop on. Shocking.
Sorry your having to go through this after losing you mum

@CustardCreamsfortea I hope you are ok today and have found out more information about what you can do about this going forward. I'm still lost for words at 'John's' actions

Hope you are OK op - what a horrible thing to be dealing with on top of a bereavement. : (

And there was me thinking they were more your run of the mill CFers...you know, see a chance and take it, hope to get away with it, deny or apologise if found out. No, these are very entitled "how dare you thwart our plans" types. John went off the deep end when he realised access was denied....crazy behaviour. I imagine he has previous.
I retract my previous comment, this could affect the sale but I hope not.

Hope you are alright OP, this has gone beyond CF and into criminality

I hope the OP comes back to update us on
any further developments. I’m so invested in this

I just wanted to say I hope you're ok. The CF'ery is one thing, but actually it must be quite traumatic having your late mum's house trashed.

Wow what an update

What sort of insurance did you take out for your mum's house?@CustardCreamsfortea

Hope the wife came out, you can’t just ignore the police chapping at your door! What a mad thing John sounds! 😱

All quiet next door tonight OP ?

So true - CF’s usually always teeter on the side of the law making it impossible to do much about their behaviour. This is one Criminal Fker that’s for sure.