has this company acted illegally

RAS

susanne

If you check what other properties sold for recently on that street, you might find out whether this was a reasonable price or not.

I had a fascinating read recently when the train was very delayed.

This guy had a whole spreadsheet of houses that had been sold "back to back", listing the names of the vendors, purchasers/re-sellers and final buyers, the EAs, mortgage advisors and lawyers involved and the values at each point. Lovely little notes like that the in one case the onward sale had been completed before the purchase and in another the "company" buying the property had not be registered with CH when the deal was done. The same EAs, advisors and lawyers were involved in multiple dodgy re-mortgages. Mainly small terraces and semis.

Do not think he realised how easy I find it to read upside down, whilst looking at my newspaper.

RAS

Homersimpson wrote: »

Is it worth speaking to the Law Society (I think they call themselves the office for the supervision of solicitors these days)? See what they say and then speak to another solicitor.

At this stage Suzanne would have to make her initial complaint to the Complaints Officer at the law firm. If that proved unsatisfactory, she could go to the Law Society.

Right now she needs to avoid any further contact with them, until she is advised by the Land Registry.

clutton_2

if you do have to go see your old solicitor, (or his Senior Complaints Partner) take a witness with you who can make notes of the conversation...

silvercar

susanne, remember you have done nothing wrong. If there is mortgage fraud, then it wasn't you that increased the valuation. Just reassuring you in case the solicitor or estate agent trys to get you to keep quiet by implying you would be implicated. All you did was listen to your estate agents advice that the 70k was a good offer.

vet8

Can someone explain how the Land Registry thinks the house was sold for 109,000?

Who tells them, because surely they are at major fault here. Clearly the buyer did not pay that if it was only worth 90,00 ish. This is cleary very dodgy and it looks on the face of it as though the solicitor is in it up to his neck. (Which is a very worrying thought.) Is it him who tells the Land Registry.

BitterAndTwisted

I think documentation is lodged with the Land Registry rather than them just "being told" which would explain why they appear to have a document with the OP's signature on it acknowledging the sale was for the £100k figure rather than the £70k one

vet8

Well whoever lodged that document has clearly committed fraud and the police should be involved.

mynameisdave

What I can't understance is why, if it is Mortgage fraud, would you go for such a staggeringly high LTV - Why not just fiddle the price to 90k? Unless of course its a BTL mortgage

susanne2010

Homersimpson wrote: »

Not sure I can offer any help but as I see it the form the land registry have states that you recieved 109k for the house not 71k, this surely can't be correct as this could have serious tax implications for some people.

Is it worth speaking to the Law Society (I think they call themselves the office for the supervision of solicitors these days)? See what they say and then speak to another solicitor.

If the official forms say that you recieved 109k then the solicitor either needs to pay you the difference or arrange to have the forms revised to show the two transactions.

Definatly more to this than meets the eye, keep plugging on with it and please do keep us updated with how you get on.

thanks i do appriciate all your thoughts it proves im not paranoid ,because thats how the solicitor made me feel,he kept saying these back to back sales are normal, but everyone else,land registry,my home insurance legal helpline plus the solicitors i have phoned for help,everyone can see its just not right,even if my property wasnt worth much more than what i got for it ,it certainly shouldnt look like it was, because it looks like i recieved more than i did

susanne2010

Jowo wrote: »

As far as I know the land registry records will show the sale price but this doesn't necessarily mean the seller received it (for example, there could be joint sellers who then share different proportions of the equity, plus the legal/EA fees don't show up).

The transfer of the balance into the OPs bank account should be sufficient proof of funds received, plus I assume she has a written offer of the lower sale price, emails that discuss this, etc.

that all correct i have all the documents and before i hand them over to another solicitor i will photo copy everything