Suspect company buying a house and renting it back to seller.

TheYorkshireLassie

My friend passed away recently.  In 2006 he made a will leaving his property to me. Since his death, paperwork has come to light in regard to him having sold his property in 2007 and renting it back. This paperwork was from a solicitor informing my friend his property is worth £130,000 and asking him if he understands he is selling for £84,000. Another piece of paper , some six months later, confirming my friend had changed his mind about the sale and so the deeds are being returned. However, it has come to light that he was in actually fact paying rent. I have sourced the company that allegedly bought his house and to whom the rent is being paid. They are a husband and wife team, and since contracting with my friend, have changed their company name five times to date. They will not answer my calls. Not replying to my e mails either. I just want proof of sale and proof of a rental agreement so as to close the matter.  They have changed the locks on the property even before his death has been registered.  I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.  I have checked with the financial conducts authority and they are not registered. My friend was elderly , had no partner or family. He was 81 and vulnerable. He was never in need of money, always enjoyed a relatively nice life.  To sell his house for £46,000 below value he must have been desperate for the money ( I think he was threatened in some way ) but he never discussed his situation.  The people who bought his house certainly made a meal of it !
The executor of his will is a solicitor.  It has been nine weeks now since my friend passed and she still hasn't registered his death. I have only spoken to her once, and now she is uncontactable too. It's all a can of worms.  Any advice please ?

DullGreyGuy

TheYorkshireLassie said:

My friend passed away recently.  In 2006 he made a will leaving his property to me. Since his death, paperwork has come to light in regard to him having sold his property in 2007 and renting it back. This paperwork was from a solicitor informing my friend his property is worth £130,000 and asking him if he understands he is selling for £84,000. Another piece of paper , some six months later, confirming my friend had changed his mind about the sale and so the deeds are being returned. However, it has come to light that he was in actually fact paying rent. I have sourced the company that allegedly bought his house and to whom the rent is being paid. They are a husband and wife team, and since contracting with my friend, have changed their company name five times to date. They will not answer my calls. Not replying to my e mails either. I just want proof of sale and proof of a rental agreement so as to close the matter.  They have changed the locks on the property even before his death has been registered.  I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.  I have checked with the financial conducts authority and they are not registered. My friend was elderly , had no partner or family. He was 81 and vulnerable. He was never in need of money, always enjoyed a relatively nice life.  To sell his house for £46,000 below value he must have been desperate for the money ( I think he was threatened in some way ) but he never discussed his situation.  The people who bought his house certainly made a meal of it !
The executor of his will is a solicitor.  It has been nine weeks now since my friend passed and she still hasn't registered his death. I have only spoken to her once, and now she is uncontactable too. It's all a can of worms.  Any advice please ?

If he sold it in 2007 he can't then just change his mind 6 months later, he'd have needed to buy the property back from the new owners and they undoubtedly wouldn't be selling it back for £84,000.

People buying a house or being a landlord dont need to be registered with the FCA. Did you register with the FCA when you bought your home?

Presumably you are saying he was 81 when he died so 17 years ago when he entered into the transaction he was 64 and so presumably less vulnerable than he was recently.

Those involved in "7 day sales" or "sell and rent back" are rarely the most compassionate people from my limited experience of them but there is no law requiring them to be so. You've no rights in the matter so not surprising they are ignoring you. 

Really the time for questions was back in 2007 when your friend appears to have been in some form of issue and you could possibly have helped them then. Now its water under the bridge and the asset is no longer his to bequeath to you.

housebuyer143

It's disappointing that you were expecting a house and you haven't got it. Have you downloaded the title deeds from land registry to confirm the legal owner? 

If it's the people who were renting it back to him/not your friend then there is nothing further for you to do. You don't need a copy of the tenancy agreement to put this particular matter to bed as you know what has happened. 

lfc321

Just to add: the fact that he had the paper deeds doesn't prove ownership: the Land Registry records is what matters in that respect.

user1977

DullGreyGuy said:

TheYorkshireLassie said:

My friend passed away recently.  In 2006 he made a will leaving his property to me. Since his death, paperwork has come to light in regard to him having sold his property in 2007 and renting it back. This paperwork was from a solicitor informing my friend his property is worth £130,000 and asking him if he understands he is selling for £84,000. Another piece of paper , some six months later, confirming my friend had changed his mind about the sale and so the deeds are being returned. However, it has come to light that he was in actually fact paying rent. I have sourced the company that allegedly bought his house and to whom the rent is being paid. They are a husband and wife team, and since contracting with my friend, have changed their company name five times to date. They will not answer my calls. Not replying to my e mails either. I just want proof of sale and proof of a rental agreement so as to close the matter.  They have changed the locks on the property even before his death has been registered.  I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.  I have checked with the financial conducts authority and they are not registered. My friend was elderly , had no partner or family. He was 81 and vulnerable. He was never in need of money, always enjoyed a relatively nice life.  To sell his house for £46,000 below value he must have been desperate for the money ( I think he was threatened in some way ) but he never discussed his situation.  The people who bought his house certainly made a meal of it !
The executor of his will is a solicitor.  It has been nine weeks now since my friend passed and she still hasn't registered his death. I have only spoken to her once, and now she is uncontactable too. It's all a can of worms.  Any advice please ?

People buying a house or being a landlord dont need to be registered with the FCA. 

But they (now) do if they are buying and renting back residential property. Don't know what applied in 2007.

RHemmings

housebuyer143 said:

It's disappointing that you were expecting a house and you haven't got it. Have you downloaded the title deeds from land registry to confirm the legal owner? 

If it's the people who were renting it back to him/not your friend then there is nothing further for you to do. You don't need a copy of the tenancy agreement to put this particular matter to bed as you know what has happened. 

From the OP: 

I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.

Seeing the situation, I can't see any way forward for the OP. It would take something like hard evidence of fraud. Even them I'm not sure after all this time. Sorry for the pessimism. 

elsien

The executor of the will has no obligation to share any information with beneficiaries until they are ready to distribute the estate. 

They may well have taken your concerns on board, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to discuss with you the actions that they plan to take, if any. 

 I may have misunderstood, but you seem to be implying that the executor of the will is in some way  dodgy as the buy and rent back company. Do you have any grounds for that at all other than the fact that they have not spoken to you recently? 

doodling

Hi,

user1977 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

TheYorkshireLassie said:

My friend passed away recently.  In 2006 he made a will leaving his property to me. Since his death, paperwork has come to light in regard to him having sold his property in 2007 and renting it back. This paperwork was from a solicitor informing my friend his property is worth £130,000 and asking him if he understands he is selling for £84,000. Another piece of paper , some six months later, confirming my friend had changed his mind about the sale and so the deeds are being returned. However, it has come to light that he was in actually fact paying rent. I have sourced the company that allegedly bought his house and to whom the rent is being paid. They are a husband and wife team, and since contracting with my friend, have changed their company name five times to date. They will not answer my calls. Not replying to my e mails either. I just want proof of sale and proof of a rental agreement so as to close the matter.  They have changed the locks on the property even before his death has been registered.  I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.  I have checked with the financial conducts authority and they are not registered. My friend was elderly , had no partner or family. He was 81 and vulnerable. He was never in need of money, always enjoyed a relatively nice life.  To sell his house for £46,000 below value he must have been desperate for the money ( I think he was threatened in some way ) but he never discussed his situation.  The people who bought his house certainly made a meal of it !
The executor of his will is a solicitor.  It has been nine weeks now since my friend passed and she still hasn't registered his death. I have only spoken to her once, and now she is uncontactable too. It's all a can of worms.  Any advice please ?

People buying a house or being a landlord dont need to be registered with the FCA. 

But they (now) do if they are buying and renting back residential property. Don't know what applied in 2007.

Sale and rent back appears to have been made a regulated activity by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (SI 2001/544) so was probably regulated at the time of the sale.

Others would be able to comment on what you approach sould be in the two possible cases:
A) where someone was unlawfully carrying out a regulated activity, OR
where the company was authorised to carry out such an activity but you believe that they have not acted correctly in doing so.

Note that the only person who can do anything about this is the executor, you should probably make them aware if you believe that the estate is owed money as a result of unlawful or irregular regulated financial activity by the sale and rent back company.

Note that the costs of pursuing this will come out of the estate so bear that in mind as there is a risk you may be throwing good money after bad in pursuing it.

GDB2222

doodling said:

Hi,
O

user1977 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

TheYorkshireLassie said:

My friend passed away recently.  In 2006 he made a will leaving his property to me. Since his death, paperwork has come to light in regard to him having sold his property in 2007 and renting it back. This paperwork was from a solicitor informing my friend his property is worth £130,000 and asking him if he understands he is selling for £84,000. Another piece of paper , some six months later, confirming my friend had changed his mind about the sale and so the deeds are being returned. However, it has come to light that he was in actually fact paying rent. I have sourced the company that allegedly bought his house and to whom the rent is being paid. They are a husband and wife team, and since contracting with my friend, have changed their company name five times to date. They will not answer my calls. Not replying to my e mails either. I just want proof of sale and proof of a rental agreement so as to close the matter.  They have changed the locks on the property even before his death has been registered.  I have checked with Land Registry and one of their names is down as the owner, even though my friend was in procession of the deeds.  I have checked with the financial conducts authority and they are not registered. My friend was elderly , had no partner or family. He was 81 and vulnerable. He was never in need of money, always enjoyed a relatively nice life.  To sell his house for £46,000 below value he must have been desperate for the money ( I think he was threatened in some way ) but he never discussed his situation.  The people who bought his house certainly made a meal of it !
The executor of his will is a solicitor.  It has been nine weeks now since my friend passed and she still hasn't registered his death. I have only spoken to her once, and now she is uncontactable too. It's all a can of worms.  Any advice please ?

People buying a house or being a landlord dont need to be registered with the FCA. 

But they (now) do if they are buying and renting back residential property. Don't know what applied in 2007.

Sale and rent back appears to have been made a regulated activity by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (SI 2001/544) so was probably regulated at the time of the sale.

Others would be able to comment on what you approach sould be in the two possible cases:
A) where someone was unlawfully carrying out a regulated activity, OR
where the company was authorised to carry out such an activity but you believe that they have not acted correctly in doing so.

Note that the only person who can do anything about this is the executor, you should probably make them aware if you believe that the estate is owed money as a result of unlawful or irregular regulated financial activity by the sale and rent back company.

Note that the costs of pursuing this will come out of the estate so bear that in mind as there is a risk you may be throwing good money after bad in pursuing it.

My recollection is that it became regulated more recently than 2001, and the gov.uk website says 2009. 

https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/freedomofinformationtechnical/technicalmanual/ch25-36/chapter31/part3/part11/Part%2011.htm


If I’m correct, then the 2007 transaction was not regulated. 

TheYorkshireLassie

Thank you all for your comments and I take them all on board. You've all be so helpful.
Looks like there is nothing I can do.  This husband and wife team did a great deal for themselves with my friend back in 2007. It's because they are not answering my calls or e-mails. I have been very polite and professional just seeking answers and it is because of their silence that I think they are dodgy. 
 It is likely  my friend was a victim of a scam back in 2007 and he needed money quickly. He had taken up with a much younger man - enough said!  I knew of his situation and warmed him, but he was infatuated. After it happen , think he was too embarrassed to speak of it. He needed money badly for sure.  We had a similar case where I used to work and the man in question was murdered because he wouldn't pay up.  It saddens me to think my friend was taken advantage of in this way. Selling his house for so much less than it was worth.  It's disappointing of course not to have inherited his house, however, I would be so much happier to think he had sold it the regular way and spent the money on himself.

eddddy

As you say, it sounds dodgy. But if I'm reading your post right, at least your friend was able to stay in his house (paying rent) for the last 17 years of his life.

Sadly, there were even worse outcomes for some other people who accepted similar "sell and rent back" deals at cheap prices. Shortly after selling, the new owner would evict them. So the new owner was then free to resell at full price.

It was those kinds of stories that resulted in the government deciding that the activity needed to be regulated by the FCA.