Malayalee’s rented out house in Ilford gets sold without his knowledge: Neighbour helps to get it back

worldnrinews January 9, 2018

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON April 24: Can a house be sold without the owners knowing? The short answer is yes!

There was a news last year about a property owner who had his home sold and furnishings taken away without his knowledge. The homeowner had his identity stolen while he was away working and was used by fraudsters to sell his house and pocket the money. Property fraud takes place when fraudsters try to ‘steal’ a property, most commonly by stealing the homeowner’s identity and selling or mortgaging the property without the owners’ knowledge. The fraudsters then disappear with any capital gain leaving the genuine owner to deal with the unfortunate consequences.

Here we have a story of a Keralite couple who rented out their three bed house in Ilford through a letting agency in January 2022.

Unfortunately, the new tenants stopped paying rent after just two months, leading the couple to initiate legal proceedings for the repossession of the property due to non-payment of rent through Section 8.

The court date for these proceedings is scheduled for first week of May and the procedure is being handled by the letting agents.

However, in February 2023, the couple were made aware that unauthorised occupants have taken up residence in the property and have changed the locks. Despite seeking advice from the letting agents, the couple were informed that there was nothing further they could do and were advised to continue with the Section 8 proceedings.

Last week the Keralite couple received a call from their neighbour, who informed them that an individual named Shaun (name changed) had visited his house, claiming that he had purchased the property and intended to commence construction work there next week. This came as a complete shock to the Keralite couple, as they had no knowledge of any sale of their property and had absolutely no intention of selling it.

Shaun claimed that he was approached by an individual, impersonating as actual owner, about the property being on sale in December 2022 and that the sale and completion of the property had been finalised in early April 2023. He claimed that all legal proceedings were followed and their solicitors (buyers) received identification documents for both the owner (Keralite) and her husband, including their driver’s licenses and passports.

It is clear that this is a case of fraudulent sale, as the perpetrator in question has somehow acquired the Keralite’s (actual owners) personal information and used it to carry out this fraudulent transaction. This constitutes various types of criminal fraud, including identity theft, forgery, and impersonation.

This has caused the Keralite couple significant financial and emotional distress, and they are taking all necessary steps to rectify this situation.

After being informed of the above the Keralite couple have now set up an alert with the Land registry and found details about the attempted sale.

The title is currently still under their name and the Land registry has confirmed that although an official search has been completed, they have not yet received an application to Transfer. If and when they do, the Land registry will serve an objection now because the owners have now registered for alert with the Land registry

The couple do not have any information regarding whether contracts have been exchanged or the sale has been completed.

The couple have now received legal advice to board the entire house as there are currently no occupants in the property which they have completed so there is no entry into the house.

They have informed the following bodies about the fraudulent transaction – Land Registry Fraud team, Action Fraud, Police, the apparent buyers’ solicitors (Details of the firm received through the Land Registry Check).

Interestingly the buyer’s solicitors have acknowledged that they are aware of the situation but could not provide any further details due to GDPR restrictions. The couple have begun initiating legal proceeedings.

The UK government urges homeowners to sign up to the Land Registry title alert service, which sends email notifications as and when activity searches and applications are made using the monitored address.

Users do not need to own the property themselves to set up alerts. The same property can be monitored by different people.

Sign up to HM Land Registry’s free Property Alert service to help protect your property from fraud