has this company acted illegally

silvercar

Susanne, the recent findings aside, were you happy to accept approx 70k, given that it had been on the market for ages and there was no other offers? Did you feel that the estate agent was actively marketing the property? Have other similar properties sold for prices that suggest the approx 70k you got was reasonable in the current climate?

Whatever was going on behind the scenes (and it looks like some back pocketing and some mortgage fraud) without this it may be that you wouldn't have sold.

Another avenue for you to try is the lender named on the deeds. They may be interested to know that you sold for X not Y.

millym

I know nothing about this stuff, but I reckon the OP should phone the solicitor back, asking about this back-to-back selling, and then pretend to be fobbed off - "sorry for bothering you, I misunderstood, blah blah". If the solicitor is involved they will probably have already alerted the other parties. I quick phonecall could give them all a false sense of security.

Someone has acted dishonestly, no question, and I hope they get what's coming to them, although going by that newspaper article, it may be very difficult to even get it investigated. Good to see Land Registry are taking it seriously! Good luck Op!

susanne2010

RAS wrote: »

suzanne

Firstly I am hoping that this is not your real first name.

Secondly, I think it would be wise to you to go through your posts and edit the amounts to things like over £70K rather than the exact amounts. Anyone searching the internet by putting the amounts in could find this thread.

Then I think you need to pull together all the paperwork you have on this sale. Any letters from the EA detailing the offer? Copies of EA details? Drafts of any legal contracts?
Did you pay off a mortgage? Speak to your old company and ask them to retain all records of payments received to settle the debt outstianding.
Speak to you bank and ask them to retain all transaction detials - proof of what was actually paid to you by whom.

Then go to your local police station and have a chat with them.

thanks to yourself and everyone who has taken the time to help and advise me, i am very new to all this posting and threading ,actually its my fist post,and no susanne is not my real name but it was the first i could think of ,i have got all the paperwork ready and im waiting for an appointment with a different solicitor and then let them deal with it,i am reading all the replies and trying to give you all some feedback but im not to fast at typing,i really do appriciate all your kindness thankyou .

Jowo_2

new_home_owner wrote: »

i think a lot of you are missing the point theres no way someone has paid 109,000 pound for this property.

it was valued at 940000 and there was no interest, why a few months on it would it go for 109000 pounds?

Though not in the back to back area, I've seen this happen in another instance.

We had neighbours who bought a property through their limited company for £x sum and were surprised to see a transaction on a property price website a few months later for £45k more after it was refurbished. Perplexed because his is was very much greater than the ceiling price on the street and because they were still living in it!

Turns out that somehow they managed to actually sell it to themselves in a personal capacity (from limited company ownership to private ownership) for a huge premium, way above market prices.

No idea how they managed to pull this off in terms of valuation or proving they could pay for the property as their limited company was in trouble, if mortgage fraud was involved.

Apparently, they didn't pay the mortgage, rented it out, it was repossessed and they now live abroad.

I assume they simply kept the £45k and legged it.

pelirocco

RAS wrote: »

Suzanne

There is a good chance that your EA, the "company" and the solicitor are all involved in this scam, so you need to avoid contact with any of them in the short term, yourself. The reason being that they may then destroy documents/files that relate your case and the Land regsitry would like to get hold of that evidence.

For your own satisfaction you could check whether the "company" exist here http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/be068784ffa028a691399a2f5bae4f46/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

If they are and you want to pay few quid, you can check who the directors are.

i could check that for free if you would like , just pm me the details

ess0two

The paperwork you signed did it declare 71k sale,you may have signed a blank and the solicitor inputted the info later?

terryw

On a general note, the conditions of sale often (possibly usually) allow for the property to be transferred to a person other than the name on the contract. So there is perhaps nothing wrong with the name on the Transfer being different to the name on the contract. But the difference in price is certainly worrying - it looks as if there is real skuldggery here, even IF the OP has received a reasonable amount for a quick sale and the difference in price is to accommodate a mortgage fraud.
Things like this need reporting even if (and I say if) the Op has not lost out on the price received.

OP,

You would (or should) have signed two documents - a contract and a Transfer. Did you sign two and are you sure that the price was the one that you agreed on both of them?

If so, one way forward if to contact the Land Registry again and tell them your suspicions. Offer to go through to their offices (it should not be too far away) and check the signature to see if it is yours.
Depending upon the result, then take it from there. As RAS and others have said, do not make any of these bods aware of anything else at the moment.

princeofpounds

Interesting to note in that article about back to back selling that some compensation was paid out by the agent's employer... so maybe there are avenues for redress if that is what happened.

Also whilst googling the phrase I discovered this forum I never knew about which might be of interest for people on these boards.

http://www.houseweb.com/forum/

susanne2010

terryw wrote: »

OP,

You should have signed the Transfer form to the purchaser. Where did you sign this....was it at the solicitor's office or through the post? Would you have checked it and noticed the price and the name of the purchaser? Or perhaps, did you sign a blank Transfer form?

i signed all the documents at the solicitors and this being the first property i have sold i admitt i really would not have known if i signed a blank peice of paper as well i trusted my solicitor to do his best for me, the property was empty a i did all the viewings, the only time the e/agents had the keys was two nights just two weeks before the sale went through, and that was because the sale should have taken place two weeks before it actually went through this company kept saying friday then it was sorry next fri this went on for 4 fridays running

new_home_owner_3

silvercar wrote: »

Whatever was going on behind the scenes (and it looks like some back pocketing and some mortgage fraud) without this it may be that you wouldn't have sold.

.

Look for someone to have valued it at 109000 for mortgage purposes, it must have been easily worth 70,000 pounds.

You may think how do i know it was to obtain a mortgage?

If it wasnt there would have been no point of registring the property being sold for 109000 pounds.

its screaming out mortgage fraud, and if its by the estate agent, solicitor or mortgage advisor if they have done this hopefully someone will get into trouble for it.

You could understand it if it was a straight sell to one on these buy back companies, but the estate agents have acted discustingly with the way they have dealt with the other person.

It could have been one big scam from the begining.