Legal advice sought

cale1

Yep thats pretty much it! As long as he has possession of the car then they will accept him as the registered keeper according to the girl i spoke to. They have sent out a new V5 in his name.

Premier_2

cale1 wrote: »

...I called the DVLA again today to make sure i was still registered keeper only to be told it is now in someone elses name!!!! They would not tell me who that person was though....

cale1 wrote: »

Yep thats pretty much it! As long as he has possession of the car then they will accept him as the registered keeper according to the girl i spoke to. They have sent out a new V5 in his name.

How do you know that?

cale1

Sorry, how do i know what?
When i spoke to the girl at the DVLA she told me i was now not the RK and someone else was. She also said if wanted the V5 back in my name i had to prove i physically have the car.

cale1

Could he now legally sell the car if he has the V5?

DirectDebacle

cale1 wrote: »

Yep thats pretty much it! As long as he has possession of the car then they will accept him as the registered keeper according to the girl i spoke to. They have sent out a new V5 in his name.

Cale this is a mess and likely to become messier. I sympathise with your predicament.

Despite what your local police told you, as has been pointed out, your vehicle has been stolen.

At the moment your best chance of having the vehicle returned to you is to be assertive and insist your local police take a report of theft. Do you still possess the original receipt and finance agreement, which should be in your sole name? If so this would greatly support an allegation of theft as this is your proof of ownership and your ex will not have any.

Have you ascertained from the finance company what their position is? Remember the finance is in your name. If at any point he stops making the payments then it is you who will be chased for the money. If the finance company are made aware of the situation it is is possible they may feel inclined to re-possess the vehicle and subsequently return it to you. It all depends upon their policy but in any event they need to be made aware of the situation.

You will have to be firm that your ex only had conditional permission to possess the vehicle. That condition being that it either be disposed of or returned to you within a month of 19th September or reasonably close to that time.

It appears your ex has made no attempt to dispose of the vehicle and neither has he returned it to you which is contrary to the terms you lent it to him. Furthermore he has made efforts to assume ownership of it by removing you from the insurance (presumably he made a false declaration to his insurers that he was the owner of the vehicle) and by obtaining a V5 from the DVLA. The police need to be informed of these facts.

I would suggest you make a strong complaint to the DVLA that they have improperly issued a V5 for your vehicle to someone who does not own it and now no longer has lawful possession of it. Enclose photocopies of the bill of sale and the finance agreement as proof that you are the legal owner. I would request that they cancel the existing V5 issued to your ex and request a replacement be sent to you in your name.

Unless either the police or the finance company take possession of the vehicle I see your next problem will be that the vehicle is sold and your ex unwilling to give you your money.

Did you see a solicitor? It is not unusual for an ex partner to place a charge (not the correct term) in order to prevent valuable property, usually a house/flat, being disposed of by an ex partner. Can this be done with a vehicle? Be good to find out.

Unfortunately there is some truth in the expression 'possession is 9/10th of the law' so you will have to be persistent, persuasive and armed with as much (documentary) evidence you can find to persuade the police to take the matter seriously.

I wish you good luck.

DirectDebacle

cale1 wrote: »

Could he now legally sell the car if he has the V5?

Much easier to sell with a V5 than without.

As to the leagality. If the police take your theft report then a further offence of obtaining property by deception would be committed. Further it matters not how many times stolen property is sold and re-sold the right of ownership stays with the original owner.

cale1

Thank you for you reply Directdebacle.
I couldn't understand why it wasn't being treated as theft either but had to take the polices word for it. I will as you suggest go back and talk to them and make them take it seriously.
I have also informed the finance company of the situation but they werent too helpful and i got the impression that as long as they kept getting the payments that was fine with them. I was worried if they had to go down the repossession route that would affect my future credit standing so havn't pushed them on that one. I did direct them to take no more payments from my ex as if he does sell it with outstanding finance then he will be commiting an offence. Also the more payments he makes the more claim he would have on the car.
All the finance agreements were in the car folder in the car but i am sure i can obtain copies from the finance company.

I have sent a complaint to the DVLA but only about getting the wrong information, i intend to call them again tomorrow to clarify what the situation is.
I have seen a solicitor and am going back again this week so will see what he says about it all now.

Your right when you say its a bit of a mess! I am trying to keep calm but everytime i think about it, it just makes my blood boil!!!

Wig

Premier wrote: »

If you are no longer the keeper of the vehicle, probably good that it is in someone elses name. You don't want all those speeding tickets landing on your mat do you?

Oh come on, that's not right.

Being the registered keeper is the first step of showing ownership in a dispute, (I know it doesn't mean RK = owner but it helps nonetheless). So somehow this guy has fraudulently changed the keeper to himself that's got to be a police matter but I doubt they will be interested, if he's sold it on then it has to be theft - another police matter.

If the car was in OP name and speeding tickets landed on her mat she could easily say the car is involved in a civil dispute and she does not know where it is, she wouldn't be commiting any offence and no charges could be brought on her, not successfully anyway.

Wig

Amazed the DVLA have changed the keeper, I thought they always wrote to current RK to obtain a "no objection to change keeper", UNLESS and ONLY UNLESS (at least I thought it to be the case) there is a signature on the V5 from the current RK authorising the change of ownership, if this is what happened he committed fraud.

I would be phoning DVLA and asking to speak to someone with some power to make descisions, not a CS agent, I would be wanting them to explain in detail how this car has changed keeper without your permission.

cale1

Thanks Wig,
I will give the DVLA a call tomorrow and ask that.
I did say to the girl i spoke to today that i thought they were going to write to me to confirm I agreed to a change of keeper but she said that was not the case. Not what i have been told previously though.
I will make sure i speak to someone higher up.