Vendor impersonated me.... help!

AdrianC

Seems to me it's straightforward.

Do you want the house?
You don't particularly need to trust the vendor. You certainly don't need to like the vendor.
The house is the house is the house. Everything in the exchanged contract needs to apply at completion - contents left, rubbish cleared etc - else you can take legal action to recover your losses (if it's worth it).

There's no tangible loss here - and you've taken steps to prevent anything further happening.

So...
If you still want the house, ignore the vendor, and move towards exchange asap.
If you don't want the house, then just walk away asap.

diggingdude

If I wanted the house I would let the vendor know the police may be informed (I would be reporting it regardless but its your choice), and that you will be going over everything again with your solicitor so these actions will have a delay on the entire process. Play on the fact any goodwill has now been lost so you have to check everything and will then make a decision how to proceed

elsien

Doodles wrote: »

I also feel you should contact the Police, and pull out. NOW!

Why?
On a practical level the police aren't going to do anything.
And if the OP has had a proper survey done and scrutinised all the relevant paperwork, would these not have picked up any issues the seller might be telling porkies about?

Takaty

OP, I'm so sorry this has happened to you. An awful situation.

I would step back from the situation for a couple of weeks, let the intensity of the emotions settle a little and then pick up the process again.

I'd hope that if she does call your solicitor during this time, they use your password to prevent it happening again.

I really hope it works out for you. We all like to think that people who do things like this wont get away with it but unfortunately it happens all the time. Only you will know if you want to proceed with the purchase and whether the long term goal of buying this house is worth the pain of continuing this process.

davidmcn

Cosmocraving wrote: »

for example... they (the sellers) have agreed to put in place a chancel policy and my conveyancer on the phone to her states that we need to see a copy of this which is when she says ‘can this not be dealt with on completion do we really need to see evidence’. Which makes me think they weren’t going to do it.

If her solicitor undertook to your solicitor to get one then it would be done, no matter what she thinks.

Another example is the roads are not adopted as it is a relatively new estate and my conveyancer states we need section xxx and she says ‘well I’m not worried about that my sister lives nearby so I know its not a problem’.

But even if you had been willing to take a view on it, your lender wouldn't (same goes for the chancel policy) so her efforts aren't actually going to affect the transaction.

Albala wrote: »

what would a court say with one person's word against the other?

But it's not just one person's word against the other - the OP's firm records their calls.

baldelectrician

You could make a formal complaint with the conveyancing company and the information comissioner, ask the IC if this should be reported to the police (even for a crime reference number should anything develop if you are to go ahead with the sale)

Then you could inform the seller that as she states it is not her you will have to wait until their complaints process has completed.

This will put the cat amongst the pigeons and make her either calm down and comply or flip out- if she does the latter she clearly has something to hide

If she is found to have done this and you still want the house you could make the sale conditional on a full structrural survey, a gas inspection and an EICR (electrical report) at her cost.

iammumtoone

OP what ever else you decide I would still call the police to get this incident on file, I doubt anything will be done but there will at least be a record of it. If you decide to proceed with buying the house I suggest you wait to make your report until your are safely in your new home.

This seller is clearly not your average person she might have done things like this before or go on in future to do something worse. If the police have a record of this instance it might help if they have other information on her or in the future.

I never understand why people don't report things to the police because nothing will be done about it. Yes probably nothing will be done about your instance but if they gather enough nothing normally would be done instances about the same person then something may get done. Or if the person goes on to commit a more serious crime it could help the police then.

iammumtoone

Re the house buying if you decide to go ahead and you really want this house I see no reason not to as long as you now make sure you do more checks and further diligence than you would have done. I would have no concerns if this causes a delay just explain to all involved there has been an attempt at fraud on your purchase therefore you need longer.


Further checks I would do.
- go back to the start with the conveyancer and get them to re-look at all files from the beginning. They need to obtain all documents requested even if in some instances/purchases they would not push for them if they are not available.
- More visits to the house with the estate agent. I would insist that the vendors are not there for this.
- More visits to the house at many different times of the day/night. Knock on neighbours doors and ask about the area/street.
- Possibly another survey the next level up from which you had.


In some ways now you know about it, this situation has put you at an advantage. For example regarding the adaption of the road, houses are sold without this but you now have an ideal 'excuse' why you are unable to cut any corners and the sellers must find and provide everything asked for or pay out any costs involved if the requested information is not available.

kirtondm

I think this is actually quite a serious breech of the data protection act. If in a chain this person could have changed the bank accounts the monies would have been paid into. The solicitors are not taking this seriously enough. On being alerted of the intial problem they should have carried out a full investigation and notificed the information comisioner themselves.

I would personally transfer to a firm of local solicitors tell the onlines solicitors I have lost faith in them. I would then get the local solicitors to ensure that all the paperwork is correct.

I would tell the vendors / estate agents that due to the problems with impersantion their is likely to be a delay in proceedings. I would instruct the new solicitors to ensure no slack is cut in having all the documenation required.

fatbelly

kirtondm wrote: »

I think this is actually quite a serious breech of the data protection act. If in a chain this person could have changed the bank accounts the monies would have been paid into. The solicitors are not taking this seriously enough. On being alerted of the intial problem they should have carried out a full investigation and notificed the information comisioner themselves.
.

This would be defined as a personal data breach and as such they are required to report it to the ICO within 72 hours of discovering it.