Seller failing to complete on sale of flat - Help!

rrtt

mi5tery wrote: »

I guess I should cut the story short here. The Mrs told me the other stuff isn't interesting anyway.

Our LS informed us that CS's insurers are 'rated' and that's a very good thing. Means there's little chance that their insurers would be unable to pay out / declare themselves insolvent (not sure I completely understood what rated meant, just that it was a good thing).

Anyway after much waiting we were offered a settlement which we accepted. Due to the confidentiality clause in the settlement I can't give any details except to say a settlement was accepted.

Now we're back to square one - finding somewhere to live.

Apologies for my drawn out description of what happened.

Thanks everyone for all your support.

By the way the police are investigating. Nobody has apparently been arrested, the person whose bank account the monies went into claimed ignorance and that someone had used his account without his knowledge (and ignored all the letters from his back informing him of the transfers). I should point out that it took forever for my report to be passed on to the actual police after Actonfraud did their preliminary investigations and passed it on to them (really frustrating).

mi5tery

Well all I can say is that I hope the settlement was a dang sight more than the dosh you lost, to incorporate some recompense for the horrendous stress and angst you've both been thru, not to mention the time you've lost too ...

And permission please to be outraged on your behalf that no arrests have been made ...I'd be hopping mad at that insult added to injury ...how can anyone not be aware that tens of thousands of ££££ have suddenly come into their bank account?! :rotfl:

PS Agree with others that you have no need whatsoever to apologise for anything. In taking the time out to post the saga on here, you've done a great service to buyers/potential buyers/tenants/landlords re how and why to be careful, very very careful. And provided entertainment better than much of the dross on TV! tho I do feel somewhat guilty at saying that, since it only came via your nightmare. But don't forget to get writing and turn it into a novel/film/TV drama to fund your future mansion/yacht/Bahamian beach home

grifferz

rrtt wrote: »

And permission please to be outraged on your behalf that no arrests have been made ...I'd be hopping mad at that insult added to injury

Indeed - I think I'd be onto my MP, police public contacts and even Watchdog-type consumer programmes about this.

The wider issue is that, by not taking it seriously as a crime, the police just send the message that anyone can have a go at this type of fraud and the insurance companies will pick up the tab.

All it does is raise the premiums for solicitors who'll then tack it on to conveyancing fees across the board! Mr & Mrs Mi5tery got their money back but it will be every house buyer/seller in the country who pay for it. :mad:

rrtt

grifferz wrote: »

Indeed - I think I'd be onto my MP, police public contacts and even Watchdog-type consumer programmes about this.

The wider issue is that, by not taking it seriously as a crime, the police just send the message that anyone can have a go at this type of fraud and the insurance companies will pick up the tab.

All it does is raise the premiums for solicitors who'll then tack it on to conveyancing fees across the board! Mr & Mrs Mi5tery got their money back but it will be every house buyer/seller in the country who pay for it. :mad:

Good points.

jayss

Thanks for coming back and letting us know the result.
It's fascinating and quite frightening but also very informative should anyone else end up in a similar situation.

mi5tery

Lifeforms wrote: »

Gutted that your money has gone, but great that you have a suitable settlement!

It's been interesting following this, never posted as I have nothing constructive to say, but have been reading the digests. I do wonder if you could do a post to cover start to finish and appropriate steps in more detail as I kind of feel this would be a good read, but also a good example for any one else who comes across this thread in the same position.

I'm a bit lost however, in 5 days from your last post (post #163), you've gone to court, had the details, and had a suitable settlement?

Hi Lifeforms,

Sorry I don't think I was clear, all of this didn't happen in five days. This conclusion to our story is what happened over the months of July and August. It just so happened that with the legal proceedings taking place we aren't in a position to update this thread until it was all over. I am sorry that I've not given a proper sense of time between events. We waited, for example just under three weeks between our LS meeting the CS's insurers solicitor and them agreeing to settle. If there are any specific questions you have in regards to timings please do ask.

mi5tery

mi5tery

dibuzz wrote: »

I think quite a few of us found it interesting, no need to apologise at all.

Good luck finding somewhere else to live although I can't imagine you are looking forward to starting the process again.

Thanks.

It's not fun when there isn't much available fulfilling our criteria (and in budget). We're hopeful that this flat got away because we were destined something better... though we're still waiting for it to appear.

mi5tery

mi5tery

rrtt wrote: »

And permission please to be outraged on your behalf that no arrests have been made ...I'd be hopping mad at that insult added to injury ...how can anyone not be aware that tens of thousands of ££££ have suddenly come into their bank account?! :rotfl:

PS Agree with others that you have no need whatsoever to apologise for anything. In taking the time out to post the saga on here, you've done a great service to buyers/potential buyers/tenants/landlords re how and why to be careful, very very careful. And provided entertainment better than much of the dross on TV! tho I do feel somewhat guilty at saying that, since it only came via your nightmare. But don't forget to get writing and turn it into a novel/film/TV drama to fund your future mansion/yacht/Bahamian beach home

Permission granted. Now let me outrage you more:

I am still completely shocked with the speed (more accurately, the complete lack of it) by which the whole reporting to the start of investigating by police process took. When I first reported the fraud online I immediately got an automated email with a 'crime reference' number. Then nothing for 7 days. I know 7 days doesn't seem like long, but trust me when I say it felt like forever! During this time I tried to call actionfraud to get an update but they can't give updates. I called the switchboard at Scotland Yard and tried to be put through to their fraud office, that just directed me back to actionfraud. I tried Scotland Yard again and asked not to be forwarded to actionfraud as I just wanted to know the status of my case and really needed to speak to someone personally. The kind gentleman on switchboard tried to assist and asked for my crime reference number, it was here I learnt that the actionfraud reference number is not the same as a proper crime reference number which the police use and hence no update could be given. Oh yeah, I wanted to update my fraud report and give the police the bank details my money was transferred into by my CS (as I didn't have this information when I first reported it). I thought I'd just pop into my local police station which would also allow me to talk to a human being - no can do I'm afraid, anything fraud related must be reported/updated via the actionfraud website.

So 7 days later I receive phone call from an investigator at actionfraud. He explained that it was his job to do a preliminary investigation and would then, IF his preliminary findings warranted it, forward the case on to the relevant police force. Finally some response! My LS proceeded to update him with all the results of our investigating.

A week later actionfraud forwarded the case on to the metropolitan police having completed their preliminary investigations. It took another two weeks before we heard from the police. Hence it took four weeks from when I first reported it to it actually being looked at by someone for the first time from the actual police!

LOL, worry not about feeling guilty. I pray nobody ever goes through what we have, so if you find our story entertaining and thus will help you remember our story and its warnings then that's good enough for me.

Having finally heard from the police I submitted a formal statement (yup this is the first time I've had an opportunity to give a full detailed statement without a word limit). And since then, well nothing! Believe me when I say I have the utmost respect for the police, but with these timeframes I am hardly surprised that I've not heard anything and AFAIK nobody has been caught.

mi5tery

Ivana_Tinkle

Wow! Thanks so much for updating us. It's a fascinating story and you certainly weren't going into too much detail. I can only imagine how terribly stressful it must have been.

I have to ask: are you allowed to tell us whether the settlement you've received includes an element of compensation for all the stress you've been through? I would very much hope that you'd at least come out with the price of a nice holiday to show for all this!

mi5tery

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Wow! Thanks so much for updating us. It's a fascinating story and you certainly weren't going into too much detail. I can only imagine how terribly stressful it must have been.

I have to ask: are you allowed to tell us whether the settlement you've received includes an element of compensation for all the stress you've been through? I would very much hope that you'd at least come out with the price of a nice holiday to show for all this!

I'm afraid I can't say, the confidentiality clause states that we can't mention any details regarding the settlement - that would include what it does and doesn't contain.

mi5tery

mrs_mi5tery

I'll tell you what though: when talk of compensation for our stress and suffering came up (and of course, we did try and push for this, just can't say if we were successful or not) we got told that because we had kept relatively level heads and not fallen into severe anxiety or depression that required drugs or trained personnel or had any medical condition as a result of our stress, we would be entitled to very little. Had we had any medical bills, however...

Ridiculous.