House "stolen" and sold

Zinger549

Saw an article on BBC. A man (Mike) had his identity stolen. The person managed to obtain a driving licence and open a bank account in Mikes name.They then sold the house. House is in Luton but he was working in Wales. He got a call from neighbours to say someone was in his house. Land registry shows the house is now owned by a new person. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59069662

Section62

Shame the article didn't have the space to mention the LR alert service...

https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

...even though there was plenty of space to mention the amount of compensation paid out by LR last year.

Flugelhorn

Section62 said:

Shame the article didn't have the space to mention the LR alert service...

https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

...even though there was plenty of space to mention the amount of compensation paid out by LR last year.

agree they should have mentioned this - I have it for my properties and had a real shock when I got an e-mail alert from them... just to say that nothing had happened 

Section62

Flugelhorn said:

agree they should have mentioned this - I have it for my properties and had a real shock when I got an e-mail alert from them... just to say that nothing had happened 

Yes, the system is great, for those who know about it. 

I've just put the point to @Land_Registry as maybe their press office can act quickly to turn what is currently a negative story into something a lot more positive.

jrawle

What surprised me is that the article says the new "owner" is now the legal owner and nothing can be done about that. If your bike is stolen and sold on, and you subsequently trace it, it's yours to take back. The fact that an innocent person paid a crook some money for it is neither here nor there, it wasn't the crook's to sell, so the innocent buyer loses out. Why the difference when it comes to property?

Thanks for pointing out the alert service. I guess this is more of an issue for unmortgaged properties, as otherwise the lender is going to get in touch if the property is sold?

NewShadow

jrawle said:

What surprised me is that the article says the new "owner" is now the legal owner and nothing can be done about that. If your bike is stolen and sold on, and you subsequently trace it, it's yours to take back. The fact that an innocent person paid a crook some money for it is neither here nor there, it wasn't the crook's to sell, so the innocent buyer loses out. Why the difference when it comes to property?

Thanks for pointing out the alert service. I guess this is more of an issue for unmortgaged properties, as otherwise the lender is going to get in touch if the property is sold?

Yes.

Not an area of law I'm familiar with, but I would have thought [once the facts of the fraud had been confirmed] the ownership would revert to the original owner and the buyer would be able to sue their conveyancer [or possibly the bank who allowed the fraudulent account to be set up?] for not verifying the right of the fraudulent owner to sell...  

I'm not suggesting it would be easy for the buyer to reclaim their money, but I can't see that's the owners problem. 

ProDave

Would the house insurance pay out for "theft"?

Section62

jrawle said:

Why the difference when it comes to property?

Good question, I'm hoping someone can answer that.

jrawle said:

Thanks for pointing out the alert service. I guess this is more of an issue for unmortgaged properties, as otherwise the lender is going to get in touch if the property is sold?

I would do it for any property I had an interest in.

If a fraudster is able to convince professionals (e.g. the solicitors and EA, plus a bank) that they are the person who owns the property then it is only a small step (which the solicitor will probably helpfully do for them) to convince the mortgagee that the 'owner' is selling the property and wants to redeem the mortgage.

RS2OOO

ProDave said:

Would the house insurance pay out for "theft"?

Is the house insurance even valid if the owner left it unoccupied for more than the standard 30 days permitted by insurers without prior agreement.

seven-day-weekend

Section62 said:

Shame the article didn't have the space to mention the LR alert service...

https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

...even though there was plenty of space to mention the amount of compensation paid out by LR last year.

Thanks for pointing out this service.

I have just registered my own bungalow, my BTL flat (both mortgage free) and my son's flat (mortgaged) for this service.

ProDave

Can you register with the LR for someone trying to register your property?

Situation:  My BTL is not on the electronic land registry.  The deeds are locked in my solicitors safe.  Is it possible to be allerted if someone tried to register it for the first time?