Seller failing to complete on sale of flat - Help!

mrs_mi5tery

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:

Actually, we happen to know of other unfortunate couples who have found themselves in similar situations that have not been able to recoup their losses, because no insurance company WANTS to pay out and therefore will fight tooth and nail to avoid doing so. There's even a section in law that helps them avoid liability for the losses, provided they can prove they took every step and precaution to verify the identity of the supposed vendor's solicitor.

Often, buyers are left with nominal payouts and very little further recourse beyond hoping and praying for the police to catch the bad guys, the courts to prosecute successfully AND, most importantly, the bad guys to have any money left at the end to pay you back.

As you can see from our situation, chances of that happening are on a wing and prayer. We still hope for it though!!

rrtt

mi5tery wrote: »

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

Hope this gives you hope - when my first choice, house that I really wanted, fell thru after 8 months because on the morning of supposedly exchanging contracts, the vendors decided to jack the agreed price up by £70K! :eek: :mad: :lipsrseal - and I spent the next 6 months fruitlessly looking for something else that suited as well - I got a bit down/fed up, and nearly settled for something that was merely OK rather than being *the* right place.

However, on 5th June one unexpectedly came on market that was gorgeous, saw it next day 6th June & put offer in that eve which was accepted following day 7th June. Exchanged & completed 29th Aug, currently engaged in full-scale renovations! It's a MUCH nicer house, bigger, more suitable for us, even better location and garden's 3 x as big - in fact it's perfect whereas first one had drawbacks. So in fact the rat-behaviour of the first vendors actually did us a favour... Keep going, don't give up, don't settle for 2nd best, and I'd be surprised if you don't come in for some positive Karma, even tho it may take a while

rrtt

mi5tery wrote: »

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

Yep, seething now! Actually, as someone else has said, I'd *certainly* be contacting my MP, perhaps leader of Council responsible for the police authority and/or Police Commissioner about this - it's clearly a matter of public concern. You probably can't publicize it thru the media now, but for those other couples struggling to get compensation, I'd have thought that might be another route, incl TV progs such as 'Watchdog' etc. There's nothing like naming/shaming/the oxygen of publicity to get some action!

rrtt

mrs_mi5tery wrote: »

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.

Indeed. And really stupid as well, encourages people to go overboard in their reactions since it's clearly the squeaky wheels that get the grease...

Hailstorm

Just read the whole thread and was shocked. Glad Mr and Mrs Mi5stery got some sort of resolution.

Police investigations do seem to move very slowly. I was a witness to a crime several years ago. At the time they asked me to make an appointment the following day to go into the police station and give a statement. I couldn't as I was having a fridge-freezer delivered so I had to be in all day. They said they would contact me to make an appointment some other time. They did, four months later.

Please update the thread on any further news, it is turning into a bit of a whodunnit regarding who may or may not be involved.

hamster2013

rrtt wrote: »

Indeed. And really stupid as well, encourages people to go overboard in their reactions since it's clearly the squeaky wheels that get the grease...

Not really - simply based on reality
Someone who is made homeless, has to give up work or falls ill due to this (depression and/or anxiety are medical conditions and not just an 'overboard reaction' - they are diagnosed and treated by professionally trained and qualified medical personnel) would logically be entitled more compensation compared to someone who kept on living normally and for whom this was merely a nice war story to tell his grandchildren one day -
I don't think there is anything stupid about that - and feel that it is totally rational and logical way to compensate someone.

Glad you got compensated pretty swiftly considering the amounts that are involved here. :beer:

onlyroz

I have read your story with interest - I am, however, not really suprised by the sluggish response of the police. You would have thought that it would be relatively easy to track down where your money actually ended up, and then make an appropriate arrest - after all there must be some sort of paper trail - but no, apparently not.

I have had to report two crimes in my life-time. One was an incident of online fraud involving ebay, and the police made a notional gesture at an enquiry (i.e. they knocked on a door, asked if person X lived there and then went merrily on their way when person X failed to materialise) and then promptly gave up. The second incident was when a drunken driver crashed through our garden wall and then drove off. We followed the trail of debris along the road and found the vehicle abandoned a few miles away. We rung the police and told them where the car was - they then took so long in turning up that the car had since been taken away. They then made a notional gesture at attempting to find the owner of the car, and were apparently completely satisifed when the owner denied all knowledge of the incident.

It seems to me that the sole purpose of calling the police when a crime takes place is to make sure that you get a crime number so that you can make an insurance claim. I certainly don't expect much actual investigating to take place, and would be astounded if they actually apprehended a suspect.

pops5588

onlyroz wrote: »

I have read your story with interest - I am, however, not really suprised by the sluggish response of the police. You would have thought that it would be relatively easy to track down where your money actually ended up, and then make an appropriate arrest - after all there must be some sort of paper trail - but no, apparently not.

I have had to report two crimes in my life-time. One was an incident of online fraud involving ebay, and the police made a notional gesture at an enquiry (i.e. they knocked on a door, asked if person X lived there and then went merrily on their way when person X failed to materialise) and then promptly gave up. The second incident was when a drunken driver crashed through our garden wall and then drove off. We followed the trail of debris along the road and found the vehicle abandoned a few miles away. We rung the police and told them where the car was - they then took so long in turning up that the car had since been taken away. They then made a notional gesture at attempting to find the owner of the car, and were apparently completely satisifed when the owner denied all knowledge of the incident.

It seems to me that the sole purpose of calling the police when a crime takes place is to make sure that you get a crime number so that you can make an insurance claim. I certainly don't expect much actual investigating to take place, and would be astounded if they actually apprehended a suspect.

Yes, in my experience it does rather appear that unless someone is maimed or dead they aren't really bothered about getting the job done...

That or someone stops paying their council tax as a protest. Then they're right on it! Just my opinion...

kizkiz

There appears to be some major misunderstanding of how the police work
In this instance it's been a mere 4 weeks for a major fraud investigation. It's not quick or easy getting info from banks and quite often requires court orders. This doesn't happen overnight
It's also nowhere near as straight forward as just arresting the owner of the bank account.
What if the account was opened with false details? I regularly arrest people who have been detained at banks with fake docs trying to open an account. They do this in order to launder money and commit fraud (such as stealing money in a fake house sale). It then becomes a far more protracted investigation with little or no leads.
I could point out that at local level most CID detectives have about 30+ active investigations at any one time, and can't always spend the time they would like on each case, so things take longer.
Charging decisions for something like this will be taken by the CPS too, so lack of action against suspects is not always in the hands of the police.

pops5588

I don't think there is a major misunderstanding at all. In fact most of my friends who are policemen are in total agreement that there is far too much paperwork, red tape and hoops that have to be jumped through, and all they really do is hold them up from doing the job they WANT to do and assisting the people who are left wondering where they are and what they're doing.

Unfortunately (and I must stress this is just me personally) I have been at the other end of far too much inaction by the police to have any real confidence left in them. I'm afraid this tale (which isn't just a story on a forum but someone's actual LIFE & money) has just reinforced this for me. Sorry. Just me.

Anyway, OP and Mrs. OP, even though you are back to the beginning I'm so glad for you that it finally got rectified at a satisfactory level for you. On to bigger and better things!