was elderly relative evicted unlawfully? lost house and all contents

[mechanicalpencil]

An elderly relative who owned her own home and was still paying off her mortgage was evicted last year, making her homeless. She was placed in temporary sheltered accommodation and has since been moved to a small property.

Her house, including all her belongings, furniture, personal effects was put on the market and she was told to sign a form to say that it would now belong to the council. It appears to have been sold on right move. I think she was offered the chance to go back and retrieve anything just after she was evicted but she was in shock and could't face it, probably hoping that the problem would get solved and she could go back.

I am the only person she is in contact with but she won't tell me her address so I can;t go and visit her.

Her mental health wasn't great to begin with but it has deteriorated rapidly and she seems to be depressed and perhaps suffering from PTSD. She is terrified of opening the door, answering the phone, going out. She is having nightmares and panic attacks. She has various health issues which are not getting seen to as she has lost trust in people.

This is all I know.

I feel heartbroken for her. This is a woman who has lost her house and entire life belongings and has nothing left but the clothes she was wearing. I realise that there must have been financial problems but still, I can't get over the fact that her whole life's memories have gone and she has lost her house.

I don't know how I can help her but does this sound lawful? If anyone has any advice, I'd be very grateful.

Thank you for reading.

I have no doubt you don’t have the full story here

Oh what an awful situation for her. It strikes me that she has been victim of some sort of financial abuse, at the very least. It is especially concerning that she has none of her possessions, that’s extreme and cruel.
It may be impossible to get to the bottom of it all but, if she is willing, I’d be tempted to ask a solicitor to review the forces sale with a view to determining where action can be taken to retrieve some value for her.
She is lucky to have you as a friend.

If she was paying a mortgage then was it repossessed ? If this happened the bank would had sold it and not the council . I don’t think you are getting the whole story here.

You don’t have the full story here. If she owned the house the council cannot evict her and they wouldn’t evict her only to have to pay for temp housing. It doesn’t make sense

Things like this do not happen without warning. Are you sure you know the full situation?

You are right in that she hasn't disclosed the full details coherently. This is all I know.

Nonetheless, an elderly woman has lost her house and all possessions and I would like to help her in some way if I can. I doubt I will ever get the full story. She sounds ashamed and highly distressed.

I don't know how things operate but from what I understood she was made homeless due to the eviction and therefore the council had a responsibility to house her. The information about the house belonging to the council I agree doesn't add up.

Thank you for the replies.

It did not happen like this, no way the banks would do this. You need to get the full truth.

The house was advertised on right move as " sold as seen including all contents" and since has been sold for a price much lower than the value.

You could employ a tracing agent to find her.
And then tell the social services local to where she is that you believe her to be a vulnerable adult.
All the best.

I don’t think the help you can offer is related to reversing or softening the blow of the eviction. That has happened and it is very, very likely it was lawful.

with the mental health issues you describe it might be hard to offer the sort of justice/ stability/ back on your feet type support.

Gosh that is terrible. I wonder if it was sold to cover (e.g.) unpaid council tax or to cover another debt - otherwise why would it fall into the hands of the counci rather than being repossessed by the bank. If it was something like this rather than mortgage arrears then the remaining value of the house should be due to her I would imagine. You need to get to the bottom of it - but what a horrific thing to happen, especially to lose all her personal effects. I have every sympathy for her and hope she can recover some stability and peace of mind (as well as money). It should never have been allowed to happen to an elderly and vulnerable person.

It does sound as if she has got housing of some sort, which is good to know.

I think in your shoes I would offer some form of contact you feel able to sustain long term (weekly phone call? Monthly visit?) and just start doing that. Offer a listening ear and a friendly face, and maybe aim to take her to somewhere undemanding like a local community centre or church to start the process of her getting connected in the new area. But I would be very careful about getting seriously involved with any legal process or anything like that, or with expressing any opinion on it other than that it must have been really hard for her.

Evicted is usually used with respect to tenancies ie where someone else owns the house.

if she was owner-occupier then there are circumstances under which the bank can repossess the house but this would have nothing to do with the council.

was it shared ownership maybe? Part rent part own?

It would appear she’s defaulted on her mortgage, she’d have known this for some considerable time before repossession happened.

if it was sold with contents, and not bailiffs removing tnem to sell ar auction, she’d have received multiple warnings to empty the property , it would have been a very firm legal warning, if she failed to do so by eviction date then they are considered abandoned, and the mortgage company becomes the baillee, not a position they want, and they will either empty, destroy or sell as seen,

im sorry but she’d have known about this for a long time, not paid her mortgage for many many months, known it went to court, known she was to empty th4 property and failed to act.

That isn’t possible - council tax arrears would not mean someone’s house getting repossessed or her being evicted

obviously I don’t know the situation but I suspect what’s happened here is 2 disconnected events , but have got tied up in her head and this is not suprising as when things go to shit it can be a huge pile on - I suspect the council comments relate to the bailiff and non payment of council tax after a CCJ and then having to sign over possessions - although that wouldn’t explain ‘all posessions’ only things of value, cars, TVs etc - and this was possibly ata similar time to a house repossession for non payment of mortgage - what I don’t get is if her house had equity she could have borrowed against it on equity release where it didn’t have to be paid monthly , could have paid off arrears and would only become due on death or leaving the house, so can only presume there wasn’t much equity it’s she had tried to sell but couldn’t . It’s awful OP but it does happen and if you wish to help the best way is to point her in direction of good charities that may be able to help and just be a good friend

Yes, it is possible for the council to force a sale. I'm directly aware of one such case.

However I'm also puzzled about the question of the possessions.

This doesn't sound like a full story. If she owned the house why would the council be in charge of evicting her. If she defaulted on mortgage payments then maybe the house was repossessed. I think the council can send in bailiffs if council tax is seriously in arrears but it would take court judgements.

I wonder if someone has changed the Land registry details to make it look as if they own it and evicted her on that basis.

https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/17/the-true-picture-of-property-fraud-in-england-and-wales/

It’s not directly possible. The council could take the person to court, get a CCj, and argue that the only way to get payment is for the house to be sold but this is HIGHLY unlikely when it results in a homeless person.

plus, it’s likely that as an elderly person the mortgage would be small so forcing a sale is excessive for council tax.

however if they were made bankrupt and / or in mortgage arrears it becomes more likely they’re in a situation where the bank repossess the house and uses the sale proceeds to repay the creditors.

they sell with possessions because it costs them money to remove them, which they don’t want to pay.

however I think a judge would be fairly unlikely to order the repossession of a elderly persons house unless there was no here option.

Is it possible that it had been an interest free mortgage that had come to the end of its term. If it wasn't settled within so long the bank would have taken possession even if interest payments were still being made, hence saying the mortgage was still being paid.

thank you for all the posts

@CleanSkin, I will bear in mind your suggestion of a solicitor for legal advice - at the same time, I totally take on board what many of you are saying regarding not knowing the full story.

@PermanentTemporary - tracing agents - I didn't know this term - thank you, I will look into that too.

You can't help her without knowing the full story - the pertinent facts at least. What happened to the proceeds of the sale - does she have that at least?

@PermanentTemporary thank you for this practical advice. I have struggled with contact because although I have her phone number, she doesn't respond to texts - well she does eventually - but they go unread for weeks, sometimes months. She doesn't always answer her phone. But I think setting a weekly day to check in is a great idea, all I can do is keep trying.

Unfortunately, she refuses to tell me where she is living now so I can't actually meet her in person although I have offered.

No there are certain circumstances it would be owned by the council. For example if it was a council house she bought under a right to buy, then the council is the lender. So yes they’d repossess.

also signficant council tax debt, they can take a charge over the property and force a sale.