Stolen Caravan

[StolenCaravan]

TLDR; 69 year old woman got her caravan stolen, is now homeless. Need advice on housing and how to go forward with the case legally.

Hi all, I’m looking for legal advice for a friend of mine and was hoping you all could help. This may be a bit of a long one as there is a lot of information and it’s a bit of a complex situation. This may not be the exact exact story down to the detail, but this is the gist of what I’ve gathered. She is not very good with computers and I don’t think she’d understand these forums enough to write it here and she’s very… persistent in how she wants this story written. You’ll get a better idea if you read until the end. I have crossposted on other forums.

So I work in a charity shop in England and met my friend through my job as she began volunteering with us. She is a 69 year old woman, we’ll call her Evie.
Evie has no fixed abode, and used to live in her caravan. In 2019, she left her caravan on a site owned by someone that was recommended to her by friends, we’ll call the owner Jack. Jack was friendly to Evie and allowed her to pay for leaving her caravan on her site in cash, and often told her to not bother paying him as they were “friends”. She told Jack she would be travelling to India and he said he could leave her caravan with him. She has and had no insurance on this caravan, no idea why, I’m guessing she just felt like she didn’t need it as it wasn’t supposed to be going anywhere.

From 2019 to early 2022 she got stuck in India due to the pandemic, lack of funds to return etc. Basically no way to return to England. She had a friend of hers check up on the caravan every so often, where it was still visible on the site. As far as I’m aware, the last time her friend checked up on it, the engineer working on it confirmed the owner ordered an M.O.T for it, and was confused as he thought Evie had died in India. The friend confirmed that no, Evie was very much alive, and was returning eventually. Throughout this time in India she would call him, text him, email him etc. With no response.

On return, Evie went to retrieve her caravan and Jack told her he sold it. She went to the police and filed a report with them. The initial investigation was closed quite quickly and the conclusion was that it they considered it a civil case, not theft. Evie filed a complaint to appeal this decision, of which she also spoke to her local M.P.

The local M.P. contacted her police branch and the case was re-opened with a different investigating officer. During this new investigation, it was found that:

• Jack lied to the police about how much he sold the caravan for. He told them it was £700, but it turns out it was £11,000
• Using Evie’s information, Jack ordered a new logbook for the vehicle and changed the address on it to match his address without her consent.

I get a little lost on this part, but from what I can see Jack used these excuses for being able to sell the caravan:

• He thought it belonged to him as he assumed Evie was dead
• She owed him £450 in rent as her caravan remained on his site whilst she was away
• The dealer came to look over some other caravans and just coincidentally offered to buy it The police’s final official statement on the matter was this:

“The vehicle had remained on site for a significant period of time. No contact was received from the owner, yourself. The owner was believed to be deceased and with no other details known for family. The vehicle was not disposed of immediately since Jack simply did not know what to do. He did not take any action around the disposal of the vehicle for a significant period of time. No payment was made for the vehicle remaining on site. Jack assumed the rights of the owner on the basis of there being no known owner and with it having remained on his site for a lengthy period of time. An opportunity to dispose of the vehicle arose -which was apparently not planned since the male concerned had not attended for the purpose of purchasing the vehicle -and he exercised what he believed was his right. On this basis, the original decision around the matter being believed to be a civil matter was communicated to you and the matter was accepted for cancellation as a crime.”

I can understand where the police are coming from, however this leaves us with a few problems – first, Evie is currently homeless and couch surfing in my flat. She was living with her son originally, however tensions rose between the two and I offered her my flat as I have my family I can stay with for the time being with no issues. I’m trying to explain to her about social housing but she’s both terrified of being put in a care home and of being “stuck in England”. I keep trying to explain to her that social housing and housing credit etc. isn’t permanent but she isn’t getting it so if anyone has any advice on that, it would be appreciated.

Second, where do we go from here legally? I have tried contacting the local university’s law teams about the situation but haven’t had a response as of yet. According to the gov. website, she may not be applicable for legal aid, which doesn’t work out well as she is living hand to mouth off of her pension and can’t afford a lawyer. She says she has contacted local law firms with the 30 minute free advice line and they suggested it be a criminal case and there was nothing they could do, although this was before the closure of the investigation, so this may be different now.

Even if we could afford a lawyer, would we have a case? She’s very insistent on the path that this is a criminal case whereas I’m more for that we should go for civil at this point as the police have already closed this path off. Unfortunately, she’s convinced that the police have blocked her (she typed the emails in wrong and won’t believe me, I have evidence of this) and she’s better off going to the media and “spreading her message”. I want to prevent her making a fool of herself and just want her some justice, hence why I wrote this without telling her as she would insist on telling everyone on how the police mistreated her. Not that I disagree that I wish they could have done more, but I’m more focused on how to help her right now.

Sorry if I sound harsh or uninformed, I’m just stressed and I’ll be honest, we both know nothing about the law, so I’m just trying to do my best for someone who’s had everything taken from her. But it’s getting to the point where I have no clue where to go. Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

If it helps, we live in Yorkshire, I’m worried about being too specific in case someone informs her that I’ve “posted her case online”.

The post is far too long.

Essentially she is owed £11,000 by the caravan owner. She should issue civil proceedings for recovery of the debt. It won't be small claims so he runs the risk of having to pay her legal fees.

She should consult a solicitor specialising in civil litigation.

The police involvement is a red herring. She won't get her money back by involving the police.

So did the second police officer who allegedly investigated check records of when your friend tried to contact Jack? She needs a written timeline of all the events. Including when her friend checked on it, all the calls and emails she sent, when the log book was changed, etc.

This doesn’t make sense. If Evie had been messaging then she’d have evidence of it she could provide to the police and why wasn’t she offering to pay.

Not necessarily. Something is wrong In the story

Oh and @Collaborate is absolutely correct. She needs to pursue the money for the caravan less the rent owed.

If the issue is that Jack is claiming it's rightfully his because the police have said it isn't theft then that's not helpful, but if she has emails she sent him and phone records then these would help her case to recover the money.

She can use the small claims process. No need to instruct a solicitor. If she has proof of the attempted contact and calls then she should have a strong case. If her friend has a mobile phone she can provide location data to show when she visited.

Agree. If she can prove she was emailing and calling and that would be east she would have a case. Although I don’t understand why she stopped paying rent.

the police seem to be saying she can provide no such proof though. Or has not. As such, she abandoned her vehicle and didn’t pay rent.

As bailee the landlord should have followed the process set out in the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act. So title to the caravan did not pass to him.

It is a very simple case, and is not small claims as the value of the claim is more than £10,000. I reckon a solicitor would take this on a conditional fee.

It's a bit odd...

Caravans don't need an MOT or have a 'logbook'

If it was a campervan then any MOT would have to be undertaken at an 'MOT centre' not done on a caravan site. (I don't believe you can have an MOT done at home.)

If the site owner obtained a duplicate 'log book' (assuming it was a campervan) then it would be in her name and whoever bought it should have seen that he was not the owner. Based on it being a campervan it will have a registration number and can be traced to an address. It would then have been stolen or a fraudulent sale.

So it doesn't make sense to me...

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

A V5 doesn't indicate ownership.

And having obtained a duplicate V5 all they need to do is to transfer details via either the green slip or online.

Oh sorry, I didn't know that... 😳

Value of the claim isn't much more that £10k once the rent owing is deducted. But it may well be worth speaking to a solicitor about pursuing a case against Jack.

I assumed campervan/caravette if there was a V5 and an MOT.

Something doesn't stack up though - it looks as though either your friend OP is not telling the whole story or cannot prove parts of it.

What rhe lady is saying doesn’t stack up . I’d not be letting her have my flat op.

So ... I am not a lawyer but having read the responses above ... Evie should work out how much she is owed (sale price of campervan less rental costs); gather her evidence of having made phone calls and sent emails to Jack regularly during that time, and pursue it through the (small claims) court. There's a gov.uk page that gives all the information on that process plus fees and who can get help with fees.

What make, model and year is it? Is it a caravan or a van? If it’s a caravan do you know if it has a CRIS registration/number.

Something fishy about this story.

As already noted, a caravan doesn't have a logbook and doesn't require an MOT. It's possible what's meant is a habitation check and a change of the CRIS registration. Those would make sense, and Jack would want to do the first and need (if it was CRIS registered) to do the second to sell the caravan. But he may have had to lie to CRIS to change the registration, that's worth looking into from the fraud/theft angle.

From Jack's point of view, Evie abandoned a caravan on his site with no communication for over 2 years without a storage fee. She was able to arrange for a friend to check that the caravan was still there from time to time, but didn't think to have the friend tell Jack what was happening?

Right now, Evie needs to declare herself homeless to the UK local authority where she was most recently resident. Probably where Jack's caravan site is, but if she was there rather informally was she paying council tax?

Agree with Collaborate. Jack did not follow the correct process so the caravan was not his to sell. Given the description of the way the sale happened, there were no costs of sale so he owes Evie £11,000, possibly less the £450 rent she allegedly owes. This is over the small claims limit but, given that this appears to be an open and shut case, I would expect Evie to be able to find a solicitor to take this on a conditional fee arrangement (commonly known as no win, no fee).

And I know I have basically just repeated what Collaborate said! 😊

There's a hell of a discrepancy between £700 and £11k for it's value.

While you absolutely do have caravans worth that value, I can't imagine that one left sitting in a field for three years would retain its value well.

Is it a touring caravan or a static?

The rent owed also seems very low . You are normally looking more in the region of £650 a year and I'd imagine he could argue that if the land was let on the basis of her living in it the charge could have been much higher.

Three years is a pretty significant length of time to not know what is happening with it

Evie needs to present as homeless, there is case law that someone becoming homeless oas a result if a lawfully sited caravan being stolen means that someone has become homeless due to a disaster and doesn’t have to show they are priority need so she will be owed a housing duty. Scott-Higgs v Brighton and Hove CC [2003] 3 All ER 753, CA.