Chinese investor house buying scam

[Scoobz2]

Surely he still owns it (even though the article suggests otherwise) as the person who sold it to the new "owners" didn't have any legal title ?

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

The "problem" is the duped buyer bought in good faith which means the property now legally belongs to him / her

That’s not quite correct. The property didn't have good title when they bought it so they cannot be the legal owner, regardless of good faith. Although it will require a legal process for the genuine owner to repossess the property and reverse the transfer.

This case is slightly different because the land registry noticed the fraud property and halted a transfer.

Dreamvar (UK) Ltd v Mishcon de Reya and Mary Monson Solicitors | Expert Evidence

Both vendors and purchasers solicitors can be held liable in the event of a fraudulent property transaction. Implications for PI insurance cover for solicitors.

expert-evidence.com

They can bring a negligence or breach of trust action against either of the solicitors (they can absorb the cost through their professional indemnity insurance) or the land registry.

 

[Scoobz2]

Looks like he should simply evict the so called "current owners" and take his property back

Stolen goods

What you should do if you find you have bought stolen goods.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Looks like he should simply evict the so called "current owners" and take his property back

Stolen goods

What you should do if you find you have bought stolen goods.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

If the property is in Scotland...

 

[Blue Mist]

Surely he still owns it (even though the article suggests otherwise) as the person who sold it to the new "owners" didn't have any legal title ?

The one strange bit of the whole story is that the original owner says he was working in Wales when neighbours rang him to say someone was in his house. He didn't ring the police to report burglars, he waited until the next day and went back to his house ?
Hmmmmm

 

[JASR]

You can set up an alert on any property with the land registry to find out if any action is being taken against it (new mortgages etc)

Can set up up to ten properties, so you can get a heads up if someone's trying to sell your gaffe from under you or a relative's from under them!

Property Alert

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

www.gov.uk

Cheers for that link.
I’ve signed up to monitor my house, my rental property and the houses of various elderly and infirm relatives.

If it could have prevented that Luton sale, then it’s certainly worth signing up for (and is a doddle).
Thanks

 

[metalblue]

Unincorporated partnership? Or any partnership that isn't an LLP.

That’s if they bothered to contest it, good chance it would have ended with a default judgment. Firms that can't be arsed to incorporate their business relationship are less likely to pay lawyers for disputes.

If they owned the equipment at the garage you could paid to have a Sheriff serve a high court writ on the premises for removal of property.

Unincorporated mate. They’d gone “bust” one had a mental breakdown and I couldn’t locate him. The other I could.

I called round a few solicitor firms who said it was theft but that they didn’t have time or capacity to take the case on (to sue for return of goods could cost £10k upwards which was more than car was worth)

The one solicitor firm that I got to work the case came back with different advise that it wasn’t theft but I could sue them but it might not be equitable. It cost me over £1k just for that “advice”. So considering how quickly the bill would go up I just let it go - pride before a fall and all that. The car was still registered in my name and the DVLA weren’t interested unless dibble marked the car as stolen which they refused to do.

I guess the point of my story is that if dibble don’t want to know justice doesn’t depend on who is in the right or wrong - it merely asks the question of the wronged party “how deep are your pockets”

 

[denislawsbackheel]

You can set up an alert on any property with the land registry to find out if any action is being taken against it (new mortgages etc)

Can set up up to ten properties, so you can get a heads up if someone's trying to sell your gaffe from under you or a relative's from under them!

Property Alert

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

www.gov.uk

Great tip.
Thanks.
Just done mine, a rental and a cousin we have POA for.

 

[Corky]

The one strange bit of the whole story is that the original owner says he was working in Wales when neighbours rang him to say someone was in his house. He didn't ring the police to report burglars, he waited until the next day and went back to his house ?
Hmmmmm

Whoever sold it is unlikely to be a stranger.