Can't get in touch with other person on household deed

iammumtoone

benjybrown wrote: »

I apologise everyone. It turns out after speaking to my sister again they were never actually legally married.

Here's the latest....My sister actually bought the house in 2007. In 2009 she put her boyfriend on the deed (he managed to convince her to do this in order to buy another property). They bought another property together and when they split up, he conned my sister in to agreeing that he keep the bigger newer house and she keep her original house. He got her to sign over the bigger house solely to him, and he signed forged papers to say he was taking his name off the deed to her. Again she was very young and foolish, our family knew nothing of this was going on.

Anyway, his name is still on the deed to her house, and that's where we are. She is still to this day paying the mortgage and can't sell as she can't locate him. He's vanished. The solicitor has had 2 attempts so far at contacting him.

Sorry for the muddled up story line.

Has she checked the deeds for the other house? maybe she is still on them as well?

This all sounds very strange. I know people can be niave but to sign her part of the other house over would have needed to be done via a solictor, but the forged documents would need to be done away from a solictor. If she signed part of her share over did she not question why when he signed his part over the process was different.

Also the documnets he signed to take his name of her house, this is evidence of fraud maybe the police might have better luck finding him I hope she has reported it now she has found out.

I am not convienced you are getting told the whole story.

davidmcn

iammumtoone wrote: »

I am not convienced you are getting told the whole story.

Me neither, and it's not really helpful if we're getting the story second-hand from someone just as clueless as their sister. If sister actually wants our advice it would make more sense for her to post here herself.

benjybrown

Sorry I agree it's not helpful.

What would happen however if she put the house up for sale tomorrow without his say so? He's not here to disagree in the first place. What would be the process?

lincroft1710

benjybrown wrote: »

Sorry I agree it's not helpful.

What would happen however if she put the house up for sale tomorrow without his say so? He's not here to disagree in the first place. What would be the process?

When it comes to exchange of contracts (or even earlier) and your sister's solicitor sees there are 2 names on the deeds and needs to see her ex, then what does she do?

G_M

benjybrown wrote: »

Sorry I agree it's not helpful.

What would happen however if she put the house up for sale tomorrow without his say so? He's not here to disagree in the first place. What would be the process?

* Esatate agent would advertise.
* Buyers would view
* an offer would be made/accepted
* Buyer would spend money applying for a mortgage, appointing a solicitor, getting a survey done
* her solicitor would draw up a contract of sale, in both joint-owners' names, based on the property Title
* at some point, her solicitor would discover the ex was not going to/could not sign, and would infom the buyer
* buyer would be extremely **%'@"* and demand compensation from her for all his wasted money and time
* her solicitor would advise her she needn't pay
* everyone would go back to where they were before marketing, happy as peas in a pod........

silvercar

This all sounds very strange. I know people can be niave but to sign her part of the other house over would have needed to be done via a solictor, but the forged documents would need to be done away from a solictor. If she signed part of her share over did she not question why when he signed his part over the process was different.

I agree with this.

You now have a clue how to find him. The other property will show an address for him on the deeds. Check the Land Registry entry for £3. If it shows that property address as his address, then you could use that address as address to serve notice etc.

Assuming that everything she has said is totally accurate and time hasn't caused any memory lapses, she has options.

1. Go to the police, track him down and pursue a case of fraud against him.
2. Track him down, show him the evidence of the fraud and suggest that he transfers all to her name immediately.
3. Register an interest (charge?) on the property that he put in his sole name. That could focus his mind and also may bring him to the table.
4. Falsify his signature on documents transferring her property back to her. Tit for tat!

Mupette

Has she looked on facebook?

Thrugelmir

benjybrown wrote: »

He got her to sign over the bigger house solely to him

Then try a tracing agency. There's bound to be a trail of activity to follow. As no doubt he'll still own a property somewhere. .

TBagpuss

She will not be able to sell without either finding him, or getting a court order.
If they were not married, then the court application will need to be under ToLATA. It is possible that she could proceed by serving the court papers to his last known address (presumably the second property he got when they split) but she would need to get proper advice about that from a specialist solicitor.

If the house in in joint name then the presumption is thatthey own 50% each. Does she still have copies of the "forged" papers to remove his name? Has she had them checked to clarify what it is which is forged? It's possible that the docuents are perfectly genuine but were simply not registered with the land registry. Anything in writing (and particularly anything signed by him) will be valuable evidence to support any claim she makes to retain more than 50% of the equity, and again, getting proper, professional advice, is absolutely essential here She can't afford to get it wrong.