header-logo header-logo

The housing racket

04 April 2012 / Kevin Dick
Issue: 7509 / Categories: Features , Fraud , Property
printer mail-detail

Kevin Dick follows the fight against conveyancing fraud

A recent story on Mail Online (ìFamily forced out of dream home after lawyers run off with their £400,000 life savings they used to buy property, 19 March 2012) carries a salutary reminder (if any were needed) that the risks facing house buyers can have very heavy consequences.

Requiem for a dream

The article quotes the case of an unsuspecting couple who fell foul to the greed of a highly unscrupulous solicitor in a conveyancing transaction that went spectacularly awry and robbed them of their dream home.
 
Everything seemed to be going well. The transaction was completed and the couple moved into their new home. Six months later, it transpired they owned nothing. The solicitor acting on behalf of the seller (who had also conveniently omitted to disclose the fact that the seller owed the bank huge sums of money) had absconded with the £400,000 the couple had paid for the property, forcing the buyers to vacate their home and leaving them with no
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Ceri Morgan, knowledge counsel at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP, analyses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd, which reshapes the law of fiduciary relationships and common law bribery
The boundaries of media access in family law are scrutinised by Nicholas Dobson in NLJ this week
Reflecting on personal experience, Professor Graham Zellick KC, Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader of the Middle Temple, questions the unchecked power of parliamentary privilege
Geoff Dover, managing director at Heirloom Fair Legal, sets out a blueprint for ethical litigation funding in the wake of high-profile law firm collapses
James Grice, head of innovation and AI at Lawfront, explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal sector
back-to-top-scroll