The English priest Mike Hall is in shock after he found out that his house had suddenly got new owners.
Neighbors noticed a lot of activity in the house one day in August. They alert Hall, who works in North Wales. He drove back to his home in Luton the next morning.
– I went to the front door and tried to unlock, but it did not work. Then a man came and opened the door for me, Hall said BBC.
Empty of furniture
Mike Hall bought the house in Luton, located 50 kilometers north of London, in 1990. By then he had finished his studies and had just started a new job.
Hall travels a lot with his job, and has rented out the house for many years. After the pandemic came, however, it has been empty.
The neighbors warned that all the lights in the house were on, and that there were more people in there.
When the man opened the door for him the next day, Hall pushed him aside and went inside. Then he saw that the house was completely emptied of furniture.
– Alt was awake. They had started removing the plaster walls, the electrical system was being replaced, and they had started tearing down the kitchen and bathroom, says the priest.
The man said he was there to renovate the house.
– I said «Well, I have not sold the house. This is by far my property “, says Hall according to the British broadcaster.
– Get out
The priest then called the police and told them that someone had broken into his house. The carpenter left the house and returned with the father of the new owner.
– I bought the house in July. This is my property, get out, was the message to Hall.
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The police came and checked the property register for who was listed as the owner of the house. It was not Mike Hall, but the new buyer.
The police then said that this was a civil case that they and the lawyers had to sort out themselves. Several inquiries gave the same answer from the police.
– I was in a state of shock after seeing the house as it was. But to be told by the police that they did not think anything criminal had happened here, was just unbelievable, Hall said.
Ordered ID card
The house was sold for 131,000 British pounds, around 1,500,000 kroner.
To sell a house, you need documentation that you are the owner. The swindler is said to have contacted the English car inspectorate and ordered a driver’s license in Mike Hall’s name.
The Norwegian Motor Vehicle Inspectorate contacted Hall in April, to double-check whether it was really true that he had ordered another driver’s license. They suspected fraud.
Hall replied that he had not ordered another driver’s license, and the car inspectorate said that they would withdraw what they were to send out.
But they did not.
The Norwegian Motor Vehicle Inspectorate has recently confirmed to the BBC that they are sending out an extra driver’s license with Mike Hall’s face and information on it. The criminals just needed to change the picture.
The BBC has also found a bank account that was set up in Mike Hall’s name in April. There they see the transaction for the sale of the house come in, and disappear again after two days in the month of July.
Have lost the house
After the BBC contacted the police, the fraud department will start an investigation. The Norwegian Motor Vehicle Inspectorate says they take the incident seriously and that they are cooperating with the police in the case.
But Mike Hall will probably not get his house back.
If you are registered as the owner of a house in the “HM Land Registry”, corresponding to the Norwegian Mapping Authority, is your property. Regardless of whether one bought the property from a fraudster, according to the regulations.
Hall can still receive compensation for the home if it is established that his identity was stolen and used to sell the house.
But the house has got new owners.
