Seriously SCARY situation

BlessedNotStressed

Yes, there are two names on the previous LR title - is it possible that the woman forged his signature? Does it need to be witnessed? My husband and I are definitely on the deeds now

BlessedNotStressed

We were FTB, and not one person mentioned (or advised) us to change the locks. Yes, a silly oversight - but we were relieved and excited to have completed our first purchase after so much aggro. None of our friends have changed the locks on their properties either so it's clearly not that unusual.

G_M

BlessedNotStressed wrote: »

Yes, there are two names on the previous LR title - is it possible that the woman forged his signature? Does it need to be witnessed? My husband and I are definitely on the deeds now

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

G_M

BlessedNotStressed wrote: »

We were FTB and not one person mentioned or advised us to change the locks. Yes, a silly oversight - but we were relieved and excited to have completed our first purchase after so much aggro. None of our friends have changed the locks on their properties?

I hesitate to seem unsympathetic, but.... surely you can make a few common sense decisions in life by yourselves? Do you have to be advised everything?

As for your friends - I don't know an can't answer your questtion.

bob_bank_spanker

G_M wrote: »

I hesitate to seem unsympathetic, but.... surely you can make a few common sense decisions in life by yourselves? Do you have to be advised everything?

As for your friends - I don't know an can't answer your questtion.

I'm sure the OP has enough on their plate without your needless input that doesn't actually help. Your point has already been made a number of times in this thread.

VintageHistorian

G_M wrote: »

I hesitate to seem unsympathetic, but.... surely you can make a few common sense decisions in life by yourselves? Do you have to be advised everything?

As for your friends - I don't know an can't answer your questtion.

To be fair to the OP, I don't think we would have prioritised changing the locks were it not for this forum. It would have been on the list of "things to do in the first year", but not for the first evening. I mentioned it to quite a lot of friends and colleagues and most were very surprised we had it as the first thing to do, several said they'd never changed the locks at all. Just because it's something everyone in this forum would do, doesn't mean the wider world does it.

shortcrust

Does anyone know where the OP stands if the woman forged her husbands signature? It does need witnessing but I can't remember if it need witnessing in front of a solicitor for example, or if ID is needed.

PS I haven't changed my locks. Might now, and I suspect the OP has got the message too.

davidmcn

BlessedNotStressed wrote: »

Yes, there are two names on the previous LR title - is it possible that the woman forged his signature? Does it need to be witnessed? My husband and I are definitely on the deeds now

In that case you're fine, even if his signature had been forged. That's the beauty of land registration.

exiled_red

I thought of changing locks before reading this forum, you never know who the previous owner has given keys to, or how many previous owners or neighbours still have keys for whatever reason. I would be more concerned about theft than something like this but it's one of the first things that I will be doing when I move in a few weeks time.

TonyMMM

If things are as he said, and he didn't sign/agree the sale then she may well have committed a number of offences of fraud/forgery but that his his/her (and the police's) problem.

I think your title to the property should be fine - but you should be speaking to your solicitor on Monday anyway.

(I bought my house 20 years ago and I still haven't got around to changing the front door locks .....keep meaning to though)