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The housing racket

04 April 2012 / Kevin Dick
Issue: 7509 / Categories: Features , Fraud , Property
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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
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gibson Dunn—London partner promotions

Gibson Dunn—London partner promotions

Firm grows international bench with expanded UK partner class

Shakespeare Martineau—six appointments

Shakespeare Martineau—six appointments

Firm makes major statement in the capital with strategic growth at The Shard

Myers & Co—Jess Latham

Myers & Co—Jess Latham

Residential conveyancing team expands with solicitor hire

NEWS
One in five in-house lawyers suffer ‘high’ or ‘severe’ work-related stress, according to a report by global legal body, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
The Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO’s) plea for a budget increase has been rejected by the Law Society and accepted only ‘with reluctance’ by conveyancers
Overcrowded prisons, mental health hospitals and immigration centres are failing to meet international and domestic human rights standards, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has warned
Two speedier and more streamlined qualification routes have been launched for probate and conveyancing professionals
Workplace stress was a contributing factor in almost one in eight cases before the employment tribunal last year, indicating its endemic grip on the UK workplace
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