Seriously SCARY situation

BlessedNotStressed

Needing some urgent advice!
My husband and I purchased our first home - we completed in February. Everything was going swimmingly and we were settling in well.........until 7am today! A strange man randomly strolled into our house, and what ensued was a hysterical fit of screaming, shouting and aggression. This guy had a key to our house! After we had all (finally!) calmed down, we asked the man in question why he had a key to our house, and what the hell was he playing at strolling in unannounced?! He claims that the house belongs to him - he seems to think that he bought it with his ex, but he went to work in Dubai for 18 months without finalising any divorce. He is insisting that he did not consent (or, therefore,sign) any paperwork permitting the sale of the property!!
My husband and I are understandably nervous now. The man said he'd be speaking to his solicitor and the police. Where do we stand? Will the house purchase be voided? Will we be forced to leave and still pay the mortgage? Can't even get hold of my own solicitor until Monday now.

bob_bank_spanker

Has he gone? Change the locks. Call solicitor Monday at 9!

BlessedNotStressed

Yes, he agreed to leave and speak to his solicitor (and the police!). My husband called his friend (who is a locksmith), and has changed the front and back door locks. I'm more concerned about the legalities of our house purchase!

00ec25

are you still in touch with the solicitor/ conveyancer who handled your legal work?

unlikely that such an obvious step as not checking who the owner(s) were would have been overlooked. If co-owned also hard to imagine the vendor's solicitor would have allowed the sale to proceed without permission from all owners to be sold. The vendor's solicitor would be as much at fault in that case as your own one.

must say I'm horrified you did not automatically change the locks on day one. Such a basic thing to do.

TheGardener

Emergency locksmith - now - tonight.
Solicitor 8:55 Monday morning.

...but you are sure its not a practical joke by one of the lads...?

cross post - see you already did the locks...

fed_up_and_stressed

BlessedNotStressed wrote: »

Yes, he agreed to leave and speak to his solicitor (and the police!). My husband called his friend who is a locksmith and has changed the front and back door locks. I'm more concerned about the legalities of our house purchase!

What does your purchase documents say was she listed as the owner or were they both listed ?.

BlessedNotStressed

The man said that he split up with his ex 3 years ago and went to work in construction in Dubai 18 months ago. He seems to think that he wasn't even contacted by anyone about the sale of the property - and wouldn't have agreed to it until the divorce and financial settlement were agreed and finalised.

fed_up_and_stressed

BlessedNotStressed wrote: »

The man said that he split up with his ex 3 years ago and went to work in construction in Dubai. He seems to think that he wasn't even contacted by anyone about the Salem of the property - and wouldn't have agreed to it until the divorce and financial settlement were agreed and finalised.

Was he listed as a co owner on the deeds ?

G_M

Why on earth had you not changed the locks in the first week after you moved in?

Now you know one of the many reasons for doing this!

1) do you have a copy of the LR title from the conveyancng process (ie before you purchased)? Who were the named owners?

2) do you have a copy of the contract of sale? Whose names were shown as the seller(s)? Does this match 1) above?

3) do you have a copy of the current LR Title? Does it show your name(s)?

4) Once you've checked the above, you'll know if this guy has a case or not.

5) If there was a failure in the conveyancing in that one of the joint owners did not sign/agree the sale to you, the fault lies with your conveyancer who should have checked that the sale was properly formalised.

6) the police will not get involved in a civil case. However if fraud was involved, they might/will. But the fraud will have been perpetrated by his ex who may have sold the jointly-owned property without his consent (eg by forging his signature). I don't see how the police could bring any criminal charges against you.

Bossypants

Very upsetting situation and I completely understand your worry, but it seems highly unlikely that such a basic thing would have been missed by both sets of solicitors.

I think it's much more likely that he thought he was the co-owner of the property, because they 'bought it together', but in fact was not on any of the paperwork.

Marvel1

Bit late now, but for future reference and to anyone, the first thing you do on completion day is have locks changed.