• Re: Home sold because of identity theft

    From GB@21:1/5 to The Todal on Wed Mar 12 11:42:04 2025
    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is something to be said for going back to the old system.



    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email alert
    system that sends an email if there is any movement on a particular title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale before
    it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after it had
    taken place.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Mar 12 12:02:02 2025
    On 12/03/2025 in message <vqrruc$2j7k9$[email protected]> GB wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property >>returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he >>returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At Luton County >>Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright possession >>of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is >>something to be said for going back to the old system.



    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email alert
    system that sends an email if there is any movement on a particular title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale before it >took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after it had taken
    place.

    And it works! It came up here sometime in the past (perhaps when this case arose) so I signed up and got an alert when I sold the house.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    If it's not broken, mess around with it until it is

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Davey@21:1/5 to TTman on Wed Mar 12 12:12:44 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:08:56 +0000
    TTman <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 11:42, GB wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the
    property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was
    ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to
    find someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after
    his identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when
    he returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At
    Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall
    outright possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land
    Certificate or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved
    you were the proprietor of the land, but that was abolished
    decades ago and now all you need is an office copy of the Land
    Registry entry. Maybe there is something to be said for going back
    to the old system.


    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email
    alert system that sends an email if there is any movement on a
    particular title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale
    before it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after
    it had taken place.




    Was that option in place 4 years ago ?


    I believe so, I have had mine in place for some time, I'm sure it's
    been longer than that. I'll check later and see if I have any record of
    an early message.
    It sends regular messages to say that there has been no activity
    recently.

    --
    Davey.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Todal@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 12 11:25:13 2025
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton County
    Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is
    something to be said for going back to the old system.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to The Todal on Wed Mar 12 13:21:23 2025
    The Todal wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o
    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From GB@21:1/5 to TTman on Wed Mar 12 12:21:15 2025
    On 12/03/2025 12:08, TTman wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 11:42, GB wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the
    property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was
    ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At Luton
    County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land
    Certificate or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you
    were the proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago
    and now all you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry.
    Maybe there is something to be said for going back to the old system.



    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email alert
    system that sends an email if there is any movement on a particular
    title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale
    before it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after it
    had taken place.




    Was that option in place 4 years ago ?


    I first became aware of it in 2017.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alan J. Wylie@21:1/5 to TTman on Wed Mar 12 12:30:39 2025
    TTman <[email protected]> writes:

    Was that option in place 4 years ago ?

    I registered in January 2017

    | Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2017 18:09:15 +0000
    | Dear Alan Wylie
    | Thank you for registering for a Property Alert account. You now need
    | to activate your account using the following link:


    --
    Alan J. Wylie https://www.wylie.me.uk/ mailto:<[email protected]>

    Dance like no-one's watching. / Encrypt like everyone is.
    Security is inversely proportional to convenience

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jon Ribbens@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Wed Mar 12 12:48:01 2025
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Jon Ribbens on Wed Mar 12 13:51:44 2025
    Jon Ribbens wrote:

    I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening

    Ask a neighbour/friend to keep an eye on the place would be a start ...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jon Ribbens@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Wed Mar 12 13:12:30 2025
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    Jon Ribbens wrote:
    I don't really see what he could have done to prevent that happening

    Ask a neighbour/friend to keep an eye on the place would be a start ...

    Maybe he did that. Unless he was very lucky, all it would mean is that
    he'd find out fairly quickly after the family moved in.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Jon Ribbens on Wed Mar 12 13:14:36 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:48:01 +0000, Jon Ribbens wrote:

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    Which isn't a bad outcome, really.

    Would the legal owner have had any scope for a civil claim against the occupants as they were unfairly benefiting from the situation. "Unjust enrichment" rings a vague bell.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Wed Mar 12 13:29:52 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:21:23 +0100, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:

    The Todal wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o
    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a >"squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    The original owner left the house vacant while he was working elsewhere in
    the country. During that time, ownership was fraudulently transferred to another person, who then in turn sold it on to an innocent purchaser.

    Having continued to live elsewhere while this particular crime was
    investigated and the subsequent sales reversed, he then found that the same property had been used for a similar, but unrelated fraud whereby someone
    else was falsely claiming to be the landlord and was letting the property to
    a tenant. This was originally reported by the BBC as squatters, but later articles make it clear that the occupants had what they believed (and had no reason not to believe) was a legitimate tenancy.

    Neither of those issues was his fault, and I'm not sure you can reasonably blame him for being a victim. In retrospect, what might have been better was
    to rent it out himself to tenants while away, to ensure that it was occupied (it was the fact that it was vacant which made it attractive to fraudsters
    to begin with). But if he didn't know precisely when he might need to return there, having tenants could have caused problems as he wouldn't be able to evict them at short notice. So you can't say that leaving it vacant was definitely the wrong thing to do. Most people have a reasonable expectation that they won't fall victim to these kinds of crime.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Davey@21:1/5 to Davey on Wed Mar 12 14:11:33 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:12:44 +0000
    Davey <[email protected]d> wrote:

    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:08:56 +0000
    TTman <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 11:42, GB wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the
    property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family
    was ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to
    find someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after
    his identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when
    he returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At
    Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr
    Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land
    Certificate or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved
    you were the proprietor of the land, but that was abolished
    decades ago and now all you need is an office copy of the Land
    Registry entry. Maybe there is something to be said for going
    back to the old system.


    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email
    alert system that sends an email if there is any movement on a
    particular title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale
    before it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale
    after it had taken place.




    Was that option in place 4 years ago ?


    I believe so, I have had mine in place for some time, I'm sure it's
    been longer than that. I'll check later and see if I have any record
    of an early message.
    It sends regular messages to say that there has been no activity
    recently.


    I joined the scheme in 2012, just after I had registered a flat that
    I had bought years before, when registration was not compulsory.

    --
    Davey.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Jon Ribbens on Wed Mar 12 14:23:37 2025
    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly didn't
    move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall
    outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found
    alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there was
    no valid rental agreement by which they were bound. There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Wed Mar 12 13:07:59 2025
    On 12/03/2025 12:51, Andy Burns wrote:
    Jon Ribbens wrote:

    I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening

    Ask a neighbour/friend to keep an eye on the place would be a start ...

    Which of course he did.

    "Mr Hall, who was away from the property and working in north Wales,
    said he received a call from his neighbours on 20 August, saying that
    someone was in the house and all the lights were on.

    The following morning, he drove there."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59069662

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Spike@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Mar 12 14:13:17 2025
    GB <[email protected]d> wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 11:25, The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property
    returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to leave. >>
    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.  At Luton County
    Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is
    something to be said for going back to the old system.



    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email alert
    system that sends an email if there is any movement on a particular title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale before
    it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after it had
    taken place.

    Quote from the website linked above:

    ”In the last 5 years, HM Land Registry has prevented 205 fraudulent applications being registered, representing properties valued in excess of £123.3 million”.

    --
    Spike

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike Scott@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Wed Mar 12 17:07:27 2025
    On 12/03/2025 12:02, Jeff Gaines wrote:


    In case anyone here is unaware, the Land Registry has an email alert
    system that sends an email if there is any movement on a particular
    title.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

    If Mr Hall had had that in place, he could have stopped the sale
    before it took place. As it was, he only heard about the sale after it
    had taken place.

    And it works! It came up here sometime in the past (perhaps when this
    case arose) so I signed up and got an alert when I sold the house.

    The problem is that people are, for the most part, unaware of the
    service. I'm not sure that it even got a mention in the beeb's (?)
    account I read earlier.

    --
    Mike Scott
    Harlow, England

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Martin Harran on Wed Mar 12 17:16:35 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:01:20 +0000, Martin Harran wrote:

    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property >>returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to
    leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he >>returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton County >>Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is >>something to be said for going back to the old system.

    If A owns a house and B fraudulently sells it to C who takes out a
    mortgage to buy it, what happens to C's mortgage if the house is
    transferred back to A? I assume that C is still responsible for the
    mortgage but probably not with the wherewithal to redeem it. That leaves
    the lender with no security. Does the lender just have to suck that up
    and hope that C never defaults on it?

    Whilst I appreciate the simplicity of the question, I would like to point
    out that traditional house sales tend to involve two sets of solicitors -
    each acting for their own client. So what culpability would they have in
    such a matter ?

    (From personal experience and a letter I still have, the answers seems to
    be that they aren't actually responsible for anything ever. But that's
    just me.)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Wed Mar 12 18:37:45 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he >returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly didn't
    move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall >outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found >alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there was
    no valid rental agreement by which they were bound. There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence >committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it
    without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner
    objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier
    Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And
    either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if
    they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means.

    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Your assertion was that the Land Registry could do so of its own volition, which was incorrect.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.

    Funny spelling of wrong, there.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 12 18:42:49 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:01:20 +0000, Martin Harran <[email protected]> wrote:


    If A owns a house and B fraudulently sells it to C who takes out a
    mortgage to buy it, what happens to C's mortgage if the house is
    transferred back to A? I assume that C is still responsible for the
    mortgage but probably not with the wherewithal to redeem it. That
    leaves the lender with no security. Does the lender just have to suck
    that up and hope that C never defaults on it?

    This is where compensation kicks in. Whichever of the innocent victims ends
    up without a house that they legitimately bought is eligible for
    compensation from the Land Registry. If that person was C, then the compensation would pay off the mortgage.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Todal@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Wed Mar 12 18:34:32 2025
    On 12/03/2025 14:23, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly didn't
    move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there was
    no valid rental agreement by which they were bound.  There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.


    You were wrong, as you frequently are.

    I think you applied Norman's Law and assumed that the Land Registry
    would have to rectify its records in favour of the rightful owner,
    whereas I quoted case law which perhaps you didn't understand or weren't interested in, showing that it is within the discretion of the judge in
    each case and in the reported case, the judge refused rectification. But
    I did of course make it clear that the judge considers the circumstances
    of each case.

    Sorry that you're claiming an illusory victory. It isn't the first time
    that has happened.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to The Todal on Wed Mar 12 20:25:50 2025
    On 12/03/2025 18:34, The Todal wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 14:23, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article, >>>> he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly didn't
    move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall
    outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found
    alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there
    was no valid rental agreement by which they were bound.  There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal
    offence committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then
    expressed by messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could
    (and did) amend its records, and the property has been returned to its
    rightful owner.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.


    You were wrong, as you frequently are.

    I think you applied Norman's Law and assumed that the Land Registry
    would have to rectify its records in favour of the rightful owner,
    whereas I quoted case law which perhaps you didn't understand or weren't interested in, showing that it is within the discretion of the judge in
    each case and in the reported case, the judge refused rectification. But
    I did of course make it clear that the judge considers the circumstances
    of each case.

    You also said:

    "This provision means that when B is registered as the proprietor of A’s estate, B becomes the owner, irrespective of the fact that the fraudster
    had no right to transfer it."

    From Mr Hall's case, it is certainly not. As I rightly said.

    Sorry that you're claiming an illusory victory. It isn't the first time
    that has happened.

    'Illusory'? I don't think so.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roland Perry@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 13 06:56:02 2025
    In message <[email protected]>, at 12:48:01
    on Wed, 12 Mar 2025, Jon Ribbens <[email protected]> remarked:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title,

    The legal process takes a long time!

    but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.


    --
    Roland Perry

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Mark Goodge on Thu Mar 13 08:29:20 2025
    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article, >>>> he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a
    "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in
    the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained
    the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly didn't
    move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall
    outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found
    alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there was
    no valid rental agreement by which they were bound. There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence
    committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner
    objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier
    Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And
    either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if
    they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means.

    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has
    falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that."

    Your assertion was that the Land Registry could do so of its own volition, which was incorrect.

    But I never said that. What I said, again on 1 November 2021, was:

    "A court order will be necessary in all probability because the 'new
    owners' won't want just to roll over and give it up. But the extract
    from Schedule 4 I quoted is concerned with when consent is not required,
    and that includes instances of fraud."

    Sorry to have been right yet again.

    Funny spelling of wrong, there.

    No, I was right yet again.

    And my spellchecker agrees.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 10:21:15 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote: >>
    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence >>> committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend >>> its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it
    without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner
    objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier >> Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And
    either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if
    they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means.

    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has >falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that."

    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was precisely
    why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Mark Goodge on Thu Mar 13 11:53:23 2025
    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote: >>>
    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence >>>> committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by
    messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend >>>> its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it
    without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner
    objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier >>> Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And >>> either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if >>> they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means.

    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has
    falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that."

    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was precisely why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.
    It was *always* Mr Hall's. The transactions themselves did not need to
    be unwound because none of them was a genuine transaction. They were
    void ab initio. In the eyes of the law, they simply did not exist.

    We were told that the Land Registry corrected its incorrect register
    entry as to title, but we have not been told whether that was as a
    result of court action or in fact as an administrative matter. It could
    have been the latter unless you have proof to the contrary.

    The County Court decision the article referred to was simply an action
    by the owner of the property to evict the current occupants and restore
    his rights.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Max Demian@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 13 14:15:12 2025
    On 12/03/2025 17:16, Jethro_uk wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:01:20 +0000, Martin Harran wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property >>> returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to
    leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton County
    Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate >>> or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is
    something to be said for going back to the old system.

    If A owns a house and B fraudulently sells it to C who takes out a
    mortgage to buy it, what happens to C's mortgage if the house is
    transferred back to A? I assume that C is still responsible for the
    mortgage but probably not with the wherewithal to redeem it. That leaves
    the lender with no security. Does the lender just have to suck that up
    and hope that C never defaults on it?

    Whilst I appreciate the simplicity of the question, I would like to point
    out that traditional house sales tend to involve two sets of solicitors - each acting for their own client. So what culpability would they have in
    such a matter ?

    (From personal experience and a letter I still have, the answers seems to
    be that they aren't actually responsible for anything ever. But that's
    just me.)

    I thought that pretty much the first thing the buyer's solicitor does is
    to determine who owns the property and whether they are entitled to sell
    it. They clearly failed to do this properly, so I would have thought
    they would be liable.

    --
    Max Demian

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Max Demian on Thu Mar 13 14:35:21 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:15:12 +0000, Max Demian wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 17:16, Jethro_uk wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:01:20 +0000, Martin Harran wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the
    property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was
    ordered to leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton
    County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land
    Certificate or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you
    were the proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago
    and now all you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry.
    Maybe there is something to be said for going back to the old system.

    If A owns a house and B fraudulently sells it to C who takes out a
    mortgage to buy it, what happens to C's mortgage if the house is
    transferred back to A? I assume that C is still responsible for the
    mortgage but probably not with the wherewithal to redeem it. That
    leaves the lender with no security. Does the lender just have to suck
    that up and hope that C never defaults on it?

    Whilst I appreciate the simplicity of the question, I would like to
    point out that traditional house sales tend to involve two sets of
    solicitors -
    each acting for their own client. So what culpability would they have
    in such a matter ?

    (From personal experience and a letter I still have, the answers seems
    to be that they aren't actually responsible for anything ever. But
    that's just me.)

    I thought that pretty much the first thing the buyer's solicitor does is
    to determine who owns the property and whether they are entitled to sell
    it. They clearly failed to do this properly, so I would have thought
    they would be liable.

    Well you'd think. However, according to the solicitors that handled our purchase, they can't be expected to check *everything*. Apparently that's
    on us. And so we had to cover the 10 years unpaid ground rent when the freeholder came knocking.

    Bitter ? 23 years on you bet I am.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jon Ribbens@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Mar 13 14:48:04 2025
    On 2025-03-13, Jethro_uk <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:15:12 +0000, Max Demian wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 17:16, Jethro_uk wrote:
    I thought that pretty much the first thing the buyer's solicitor does is
    to determine who owns the property and whether they are entitled to sell
    it. They clearly failed to do this properly, so I would have thought
    they would be liable.

    Well you'd think. However, according to the solicitors that handled our purchase, they can't be expected to check *everything*. Apparently that's
    on us. And so we had to cover the 10 years unpaid ground rent when the freeholder came knocking.

    Bitter ? 23 years on you bet I am.

    "We don't check everything" is all very well, but if they didn't check
    "unpaid debts under the lease" it seems like they didn't check *anything*!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Jon Ribbens on Thu Mar 13 15:07:04 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:48:04 +0000, Jon Ribbens wrote:

    On 2025-03-13, Jethro_uk <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:15:12 +0000, Max Demian wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 17:16, Jethro_uk wrote:
    I thought that pretty much the first thing the buyer's solicitor does
    is to determine who owns the property and whether they are entitled to
    sell it. They clearly failed to do this properly, so I would have
    thought they would be liable.

    Well you'd think. However, according to the solicitors that handled our
    purchase, they can't be expected to check *everything*. Apparently
    that's on us. And so we had to cover the 10 years unpaid ground rent
    when the freeholder came knocking.

    Bitter ? 23 years on you bet I am.

    "We don't check everything" is all very well, but if they didn't check "unpaid debts under the lease" it seems like they didn't check
    *anything*!

    They checked they got paid.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 15:27:55 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 11:53:23 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote: >>
    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>
    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence >>>>> committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by >>>>> messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend >>>>> its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner. >>>>
    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it >>>> without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner >>>> objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier
    Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And >>>> either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if >>>> they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means. >>>>
    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has
    falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that."

    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was precisely >> why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.
    It was *always* Mr Hall's. The transactions themselves did not need to
    be unwound because none of them was a genuine transaction. They were
    void ab initio. In the eyes of the law, they simply did not exist.

    And that is precisely where you are wrong.

    We were told that the Land Registry corrected its incorrect register
    entry as to title, but we have not been told whether that was as a
    result of court action or in fact as an administrative matter. It could
    have been the latter unless you have proof to the contrary.

    One of the earlier BBC reports indicated that legal action was in the
    offing:

    As well as Mr Hall fighting to regain ownership, the BBC has learned that
    over a year later, the new owners are contesting Mr Hall's appeal to have
    the house transferred back into his name, which may result in a legal
    tribunal before any decision is made.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-63392025

    And a subsequent report does, indeed, refer legal action having taken place:

    On Tuesday at 14:13 GMT, following two years of court battles, Mr Hall
    said "justice has been done" after his name was once against listed as
    owner of the house on the Land Registry.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67356354

    Note that both of these articles predate the more recent county court action
    to evict the unauthorised tenants. Note also that the the first article
    refers to having the house "transferred back", which implies a subsequent transfer rather than merely negating the original transfer.

    I don't know if anyone can identify the property from the media photos of
    it, but if we can get an address then it would be possible to check the Land Registry transaction history for it.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Fredxx@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 14:55:31 2025
    On 13/03/2025 11:53, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal
    offence
    committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by >>>>> messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did)
    amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner. >>>>
    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it >>>> without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

        It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner >>>>     objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the
    First Tier
        Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash
    it. And
        either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands
    Chamber) if
        they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means. >>>>
    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has
    falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that."

    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was
    precisely
    why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.

    Ah, I can see where you're going wrong. It doesn't matter who owns the
    property and the concept is most unhelpful, the only thing that does
    matter is the title.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Roger Hayter@21:1/5 to Max Demian on Thu Mar 13 14:43:08 2025
    On 13 Mar 2025 at 14:15:12 GMT, "Max Demian" <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 17:16, Jethro_uk wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 15:01:20 +0000, Martin Harran wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening. >>>>
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property >>>> returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to
    leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton County >>>> Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate >>>> or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all >>>> you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is
    something to be said for going back to the old system.

    If A owns a house and B fraudulently sells it to C who takes out a
    mortgage to buy it, what happens to C's mortgage if the house is
    transferred back to A? I assume that C is still responsible for the
    mortgage but probably not with the wherewithal to redeem it. That leaves >>> the lender with no security. Does the lender just have to suck that up
    and hope that C never defaults on it?

    Whilst I appreciate the simplicity of the question, I would like to point
    out that traditional house sales tend to involve two sets of solicitors -
    each acting for their own client. So what culpability would they have in
    such a matter ?

    (From personal experience and a letter I still have, the answers seems to
    be that they aren't actually responsible for anything ever. But that's
    just me.)

    I thought that pretty much the first thing the buyer's solicitor does is
    to determine who owns the property and whether they are entitled to sell
    it. They clearly failed to do this properly, so I would have thought
    they would be liable.

    I think the problems started before that, when they checked the identity of their client. Whether they were sufficiently diligent doing this (despite
    being fooled) would be a matter for the judge to decide, I suppose.


    --

    Roger Hayter

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Todal@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 17:18:23 2025
    On 12/03/2025 20:25, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 18:34, The Todal wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 14:23, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that article, >>>>> he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a >>>>> "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really see >>>> what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in >>>> the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view it. >>>>
    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained >>>> the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly
    didn't move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr
    Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found
    alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there
    was no valid rental agreement by which they were bound.  There was no
    agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent it
    out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal
    offence committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then
    expressed by messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could
    (and did) amend its records, and the property has been returned to
    its rightful owner.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.


    You were wrong, as you frequently are.

    I think you applied Norman's Law and assumed that the Land Registry
    would have to rectify its records in favour of the rightful owner,
    whereas I quoted case law which perhaps you didn't understand or
    weren't interested in, showing that it is within the discretion of the
    judge in each case and in the reported case, the judge refused
    rectification. But I did of course make it clear that the judge
    considers the circumstances of each case.

    You also said:

    "This provision means that when B is registered as the proprietor of A’s estate, B becomes the owner, irrespective of the fact that the fraudster
    had no right to transfer it."

    From Mr Hall's case, it is certainly not.  As I rightly said.

    Please refrain from repeately asserting incorrect law. Maybe you should
    do some research, rather than relying on what I assume must be your
    pendulous gut.


    Sorry that you're claiming an illusory victory. It isn't the first
    time that has happened.

    'Illusory'?  I don't think so.




    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Mark Goodge on Thu Mar 13 17:23:20 2025
    On 13/03/2025 15:27, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 11:53:23 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote: >>>
    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal offence >>>>>> committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by >>>>>> messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) amend >>>>>> its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful owner. >>>>>
    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just revert it >>>>> without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

    It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner >>>>> objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the First Tier
    Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash it. And
    either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) if
    they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means. >>>>>
    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has >>>> falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that." >>>
    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was precisely >>> why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.
    It was *always* Mr Hall's. The transactions themselves did not need to
    be unwound because none of them was a genuine transaction. They were
    void ab initio. In the eyes of the law, they simply did not exist.

    And that is precisely where you are wrong.

    I think not. It was *his* property and, according to Schedule 1 of the
    Human Rights Act 1984 which incorporated Part II Article 1 of the
    European Convention on Human Rights:

    "No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public
    interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the
    general principles of international law."

    We were told that the Land Registry corrected its incorrect register
    entry as to title, but we have not been told whether that was as a
    result of court action or in fact as an administrative matter. It could
    have been the latter unless you have proof to the contrary.

    One of the earlier BBC reports indicated that legal action was in the
    offing:

    As well as Mr Hall fighting to regain ownership, the BBC has learned that
    over a year later, the new owners are contesting Mr Hall's appeal to have
    the house transferred back into his name, which may result in a legal
    tribunal before any decision is made.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-63392025

    At that time, it *may* have resulted in a legal tribunal hearing.
    However, according to that article, it appears that action was confined
    to the Land Registry alone:

    "As well as Mr Hall fighting to regain ownership, the BBC has learned
    that over a year later, the new owners are contesting Mr Hall's appeal
    to have the house transferred back into his name, which may result in a
    legal tribunal before any decision is made.

    Mr Hall said: "Back in September [2021] I made that application with the
    Land Registry giving full details as I see it.

    "They then processed that and are still processing it. Conversations
    with Land Registry have been very protracted if I'm honest with you and
    as it stands today, more than 12 months down the line, they are still
    waiting to decide whether, as I wish, if the house will be transferred
    back into my name.""

    There is only mention there of the Land Registry, not of any court or
    tribunal. So, I think you're probably still wrong.

    And a subsequent report does, indeed, refer legal action having taken place:

    On Tuesday at 14:13 GMT, following two years of court battles, Mr Hall
    said "justice has been done" after his name was once against listed as
    owner of the house on the Land Registry.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67356354

    Note that both of these articles predate the more recent county court action to evict the unauthorised tenants. Note also that the the first article refers to having the house "transferred back", which implies a subsequent transfer rather than merely negating the original transfer.

    No, it just means the register entry was corrected.

    I don't know if anyone can identify the property from the media photos of
    it, but if we can get an address then it would be possible to check the Land Registry transaction history for it.

    I'm not sure that will clarify anything, but let's see.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark Goodge@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 17:37:00 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:23:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 13/03/2025 15:27, Mark Goodge wrote:

    I don't know if anyone can identify the property from the media photos of
    it, but if we can get an address then it would be possible to check the Land >> Registry transaction history for it.

    I'm not sure that will clarify anything, but let's see.

    It will show whether the original transfer away from Mr Hall was
    subsequently deleted, or whether there was instead a second transfer in the other direction.

    Transfers do get deleted occasionally, usually where the Land Registry has
    made a data entry error. For data integrity, a deleted transfer isn't
    actually removed from the data, instead it's updated to show a "deleted" status. So you can still see them, meaning it's possible to see where an
    error has been made and then corrected.

    Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Fredxx on Thu Mar 13 18:23:33 2025
    On 13/03/2025 14:55, Fredxx wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 11:53, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal
    offence
    committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by >>>>>> messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and did) >>>>>> amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful
    owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just
    revert it
    without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

        It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new owner >>>>>     objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the
    First Tier
        Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash >>>>> it. And
        either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands
    Chamber) if
        they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any means. >>>>>
    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1
    November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown has >>>> falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off
    with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change that." >>>
    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was
    precisely
    why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply
    being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.

    Ah, I can see where you're going wrong. It doesn't matter who owns the property and the concept is most unhelpful, the only thing that does
    matter is the title.

    Who owns the property is absolutely central. It's the reason Mr Hall
    could get the error in the Land Register corrected.

    And 'legal title' is merely 'the means or right by which one owns or
    possesses property'. Mr Hall acquired legal title to his house by
    buying it. He never relinquished it. He owned it throughout.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to Mark Goodge on Thu Mar 13 18:41:29 2025
    On 13/03/2025 17:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:23:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 13/03/2025 15:27, Mark Goodge wrote:

    I don't know if anyone can identify the property from the media photos of >>> it, but if we can get an address then it would be possible to check the Land
    Registry transaction history for it.

    I'm not sure that will clarify anything, but let's see.

    It will show whether the original transfer away from Mr Hall was
    subsequently deleted, or whether there was instead a second transfer in the other direction.

    Transfers do get deleted occasionally, usually where the Land Registry has made a data entry error. For data integrity, a deleted transfer isn't actually removed from the data, instead it's updated to show a "deleted" status. So you can still see them, meaning it's possible to see where an error has been made and then corrected.

    That's what I guess will be the case then.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Norman Wells@21:1/5 to The Todal on Thu Mar 13 18:38:42 2025
    On 13/03/2025 17:18, The Todal wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 20:25, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 18:34, The Todal wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 14:23, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 12/03/2025 12:48, Jon Ribbens wrote:
    On 2025-03-12, Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    The Todal wrote:
    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be
    happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    It was discussed here in november 2021, but from reading that
    article,
    he then left it empty again until 2023 and when he turned up found a >>>>>> "squatter" family was living there ... seems a bit careless?

    They're not squatters, they're a family that entered into a tenancy
    agreement with, presumably, the fake property owner. I don't really
    see
    what he could have done to prevent that happening, short of camping in >>>>> the street outside the property and warning anyone who came to view
    it.

    It's not clear why it took so long to get possession after he regained >>>>> the title, but perhaps he was being nice to the innocent family who
    were getting kicked out. It says in the article that he feels sorry
    for them, although I'm not entirely sure why given they apparently
    got 18 months' occupation rent-free.

    According to the article linked to in the original post here:

    "Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when
    he returned again in 2023 he found a family living there."

    We don't know the exact time-line but the Land Registry clearly
    didn't move with the speed of lightning.

    "At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr
    Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days."

    Since he'd been out of the property since 2021, I expect he'd found
    alternative accommodation so the house was no longer his primary
    residence and he would therefore have had to follow the normal
    procedures for eviction of squatters which, as we all know, take far
    longer than they should, exacerbated even more by the backlog in the
    courts, still, as a result of the Covid pandemic.

    They got 18 months rent-free (if they did) presumably because there
    was no valid rental agreement by which they were bound.  There was
    no agreement with Mr Hall, who wanted the property back, not to rent
    it out, and there was of course no legally valid agreement with the
    fraudster who purported to rent it to them.

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal
    offence committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then
    expressed by messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry
    could (and did) amend its records, and the property has been
    returned to its rightful owner.

    Sorry to have been right yet again.


    You were wrong, as you frequently are.

    I think you applied Norman's Law and assumed that the Land Registry
    would have to rectify its records in favour of the rightful owner,
    whereas I quoted case law which perhaps you didn't understand or
    weren't interested in, showing that it is within the discretion of
    the judge in each case and in the reported case, the judge refused
    rectification. But I did of course make it clear that the judge
    considers the circumstances of each case.

    You also said:

    "This provision means that when B is registered as the proprietor of
    A’s estate, B becomes the owner, irrespective of the fact that the
    fraudster had no right to transfer it."

     From Mr Hall's case, it is certainly not.  As I rightly said.

    Please refrain from repeately asserting incorrect law. Maybe you should
    do some research, rather than relying on what I assume must be your
    pendulous gut.

    Lovely, gratuitous ad hom, but you're completely wrong. Mr Hall owned
    the property originally. He did not sell it, dispose of it or abandon
    it. In those circumstances, as with any other property, he retained
    sole ownership of it with all the rights ownership gives that can be
    exercised at law.

    His ownership of it throughout was what founded his legal case to get
    the Land Register corrected and his squatters out.

    Had the fraudster actually gained ownership, as you claimed, Mr Hall
    would have had no rights at law to re-occupy the house at all.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Fredxx@21:1/5 to Norman Wells on Thu Mar 13 20:51:53 2025
    On 13/03/2025 18:23, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 14:55, Fredxx wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 11:53, Norman Wells wrote:
    On 13/03/2025 10:21, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:29:20 +0000, Norman Wells <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On 12/03/2025 18:37, Mark Goodge wrote:
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:23:37 +0000, Norman Wells
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Anyway, just as I predicted in November 2021 in the 'No criminal >>>>>>> offence
    committed?' thread here, and contrary to the views then expressed by >>>>>>> messrs Todal, Parker and Goodge, the Land Registry could (and
    did) amend
    its records, and the property has been returned to its rightful
    owner.

    What I actually said was that the Land Registry couldn't just
    revert it
    without a court order. Which Mr Hall obtained, and the title was
    subsequently reverted. What I actually said was:

        It can be reverted by means of a court order, but if the new >>>>>> owner
        objects to the order then it will need to go to at least the >>>>>> First Tier
        Tribunal for a ruling on whether to uphold the order or quash >>>>>> it. And
        either party can then appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands
    Chamber) if
        they want to. So it's not a quick and easy solution, by any >>>>>> means.

    Message-ID: <[email protected]>

    Well, let me quote some of what you absolutely wrongly asserted on 1 >>>>> November 2021:

    "The original owner has been defrauded. A person or persons unknown
    has
    falsely claimed to be him in order to sell the property and make off >>>>> with the proceeds. The current owners have good title."

    "The current owners are the owners. The fact that they
    (entirely innocently) bought the property from someone who had
    fraudulently misrepresented himself as the owner does not change
    that."

    Neither of those statements was incorrect. Far from it. That was
    precisely
    why it needed a court to unwind the transactions, rather than it simply >>>> being an administrative matter for the Land Registry.

    The ownership of the property in fact never changed, so you're wrong.

    Ah, I can see where you're going wrong. It doesn't matter who owns the
    property and the concept is most unhelpful, the only thing that does
    matter is the title.

    Who owns the property is absolutely central.  It's the reason Mr Hall
    could get the error in the Land Register corrected.

    And 'legal title' is merely 'the means or right by which one owns or possesses property'.  Mr Hall acquired legal title to his house by
    buying it.  He never relinquished it.  He owned it throughout.

    Are we talking legal ownership of land or the beneficial ownership?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From miked@21:1/5 to The Todal on Thu Mar 13 22:15:53 2025
    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal wrote:

    This is rather worrying - one wonders how often this might be happening.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygv79n8x1o

    quote

    A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to
    leave.

    Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find
    someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his
    identity was stolen.

    Land Registry eventually put his name back on the title, but when he
    returned again in 2023 he found a family living there. At Luton County
    Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright
    possession of the home in 14 days.

    unquote

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land Certificate
    or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you were the
    proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and now all
    you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe there is something to be said for going back to the old system.


    Wonder how they managed to transfer the property? Surely the solicitors
    who handled the conveyancing must be liable for their part in the fraud.
    Or is there a way round that? Can you draw up your own sale? i looked at
    my own deeds, and its quite a short doc, if i was to reproduce it just
    with different names and dates when i want to sell, get it witnessed,
    would it be legal? Would save a bundle on conveyancing fees. And who was
    the woman paying rent to?

    mike

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Handsome Jack@21:1/5 to miked on Fri Mar 14 08:21:28 2025
    On Thu, 13 Mar 2025 22:15:53 +0000, miked wrote:

    On Wed, 12 Mar 2025 11:25:13 +0000, The Todal wrote:

    In the old days, to sell a house you had to produce the Land
    Certificate or Charge Certificate, a paper document that proved you
    were the proprietor of the land, but that was abolished decades ago and
    now all you need is an office copy of the Land Registry entry. Maybe
    there is something to be said for going back to the old system.


    Wonder how they managed to transfer the property? Surely the solicitors
    who handled the conveyancing must be liable for their part in the fraud.

    Possibly liable in negligence, and/or misconduct in failing to comply with
    the money laun dering regulations.

    Or is there a way round that? Can you draw up your own sale? i looked at
    my own deeds, and its quite a short doc, if i was to reproduce it just
    with different names and dates when i want to sell, get it witnessed,
    would it be legal?

    Yes.

    Would save a bundle on conveyancing fees.

    It might save something, but there is a bit more to selling than just
    drawing up the sale contract.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)