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Original poster

House stolen

79 replies

Chimley · 01/11/2021 10:18

I read this story on the BBC and it sounds like a complete nightmare! It looks like he lives elsewhere but obviously a) he did still have stuff in the stolen house which has been removed and b) he no longer owns a house he clearly wants to own, being £131k poorer to boot!

BBC News - Luton man left shocked as his house is ‘stolen’
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59069662

OP posts:
longtompot · 01/11/2021 10:33

How can the police say no crime has been committed? Surely it's the same as buying a stolen car. You lose the car and the money you paid. Hopefully he will get his house back, and the new 'owners' can get their money back from suing the solicitors as they haven't done the correct checks by the sounds of things.
Sadly won't bring back all his possessions.

MrsFin · 01/11/2021 10:37

Jesus Christ! How awful! That poor man.

Whinginadeville · 01/11/2021 10:37

The solicitors who failed to do proper checks should pay the compensation neither 'home iwner' should lose out here that's what we pay solicitors for.

GiantKitten · 01/11/2021 10:40

”Once the house was sold to the new owner for £131,000 by the person impersonating Mr Hall, they legally owned it”

This doesn’t apply to stolen cars - why is it different for a house FFS?
(I know somebody who inadvertently bought a stolen car and ended up with no car and no money)

Original poster
Chimley · 01/11/2021 10:42

Agree with you! Surely the 'new' owner loses the stolen property and the solicitors are in the shit?!

OP posts:
TakeYourFinalPosition · 01/11/2021 10:47

This is baffling.

There will have to be more to it than meets the eye - either the solicitors were SEVERELY negligent; or the "seller" had access to a lot of his details - we're selling at the moment and I think they've asked to see every piece of ID we have; as well as meeting us face-to-face and a Zoom ID verification call...

But it's bizarre, and I really want to know what has happened.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 01/11/2021 10:49

Oh I missed this - You and Yours obtained the duplicate driving licence issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Mr Hall's name, details of a bank account set up in his name to receive the proceeds of the sale, and phone recordings of the house being stolen.

Sorry; baby brain!

onedayiwillmissthis · 01/11/2021 10:50

Dreadful. As a pp said...the solicitor(s) should be held responsible for financial recompense.

You can sign up to receive Alerts from the Land Registry that let you know if any searches are done on your property. Doesn't cost anything.

YesILikeItToo · 01/11/2021 10:57

The law of ownership of things like cars is different from the law of ownership of things like houses. Sorting this out isn’t straightforward. It definitely strikes me as a crime, though.

Original poster
Chimley · 01/11/2021 10:59

@onedayiwillmissthis

Dreadful. As a pp said...the solicitor(s) should be held responsible for financial recompense.

You can sign up to receive Alerts from the Land Registry that let you know if any searches are done on your property. Doesn't cost anything.

It makes sense to do so 'just in case'. But like not signing up to credit check services until you've been a victim it just seems so unlikely no one would think they need to do it.
OP posts:
TractorAndHeadphones · 01/11/2021 11:02

What the actual hell??

Lemonsyellow · 01/11/2021 11:03

I listened to this on the radio. Also negligent are the DVLA, which alerted the owner that someone has applied to get a duplicate driving licence in his name, and was it him? Owner said it wasn’t, DVLA said it must be an attempt at fraud and said they’d stop the application. And then they issued the duplicate driving licence anyway.

RustyBear · 01/11/2021 11:04

Our solicitor advised us to register with Land Registry when we bought - we get regular reports every 6 months plus alerts if anyone is trying to change anything.

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Very easy to register, I'd advise everyone to do it, particularly if they have a property they don't live in all the time

amillionrosepetals · 01/11/2021 11:04

So how did the buyer view the house? Did they buy without viewing? How did they get a set of keys on completion? If you sell through an Estate Agent they are legally obliged to check your identity, what did the buyer's solicitor advise them to do about checking the seller's identity? Something doesn't add up here.

ChicCroissant · 01/11/2021 11:05

Surely even getting a driving licence in someone else's name is fraud, never mind the rest of it! How can the Police say it's a civil matter?

RustyBear · 01/11/2021 11:06

The government webpage in that link describes property theft as fraud, so I can't see why the police should say it isn't.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 01/11/2021 11:07

@amillionrosepetals

So how did the buyer view the house? Did they buy without viewing? How did they get a set of keys on completion? If you sell through an Estate Agent they are legally obliged to check your identity, what did the buyer's solicitor advise them to do about checking the seller's identity? Something doesn't add up here.
I suspect someone broke in and then changed the locks.
TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 01/11/2021 11:10

And as the DVLA had issued a new driver’s licence, they would have had photo ID. Not sure if the solicitor was at fault here - if they saw photo ID and everything else appeared to line up, why would they think it was fraud?

Lemonsyellow · 01/11/2021 11:10

Yes, the house was broken into and the locks were changed.

Lemonsyellow · 01/11/2021 11:19

At first it appeared that the DVLA hadn’t just issued the duplicate driving licence, but that they had failed to notice the photo was of someone completely different, including a different ethnicity, but I think it later appeared that the photo had been subsequently changed - the licence had been doctored.

Lilboots · 01/11/2021 11:26

@RustyBear

Our solicitor advised us to register with Land Registry when we bought - we get regular reports every 6 months plus alerts if anyone is trying to change anything.

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Very easy to register, I'd advise everyone to do it, particularly if they have a property they don't live in all the time

Thanks for this, I've just registered now. Can confirm it's very easy!
Alpinechalet · 01/11/2021 11:38

I would also advise anyone owning a property to update their contact addresses to include an email. www.gov.uk/government/publications/updating-registered-owners-contact-address

This is very simple and means you would be notified of any activity even changes of address.

MrsColon · 01/11/2021 11:50

The police and CPS are notoriously terrible at prosecuting fraud cases - unless it's literally an open-and-shut case AND all evidence is literally handed to them ready-to-prosecute they don't want to know. And even when you do hand over a ton of compelling evidence (that you have to investigate for yourself - they can't be arsed) they still take a lot of persuading to do anything.

Original poster
Chimley · 01/11/2021 11:57

I've registered too. Would be rather remiss of me not to!

OP posts:
MintJulia · 01/11/2021 11:58

If the house has a mortgage on it with the legal owner, I bet the mortgage company sorts this out in double quick time.

A bank wouldn't put up with that Smile

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