The solicitors responsibilities when selling

[lionel1020]

I have been the victim of a property fraud.

This question concerns the legal side, in particular the solicitors responsibilities.
My signature was forged on the contracts/deeds/ bill of sale.


Does the solicitor not have some responsibility to make certain that the person sat in front of him is in fact who he says he is? That this person has the right to sign these documents in the first place?
Surely solicitors do not accept things so easily?


“Hello I'm Mr Smith”
“OK mate sign here”


Seems very unprofessional to say the least, always assuming he was not a willing party to the fraud.
Lionel

[lionel1020]

I've been doing a bit more research and it would seem a solicitor does have a responsibility to verify the identity of his client under the money laundering act 2007 (section 5 (a)).
I would have thought this was pretty basic stuff, almost common sense for a competent solicitor....check the identity of your client before you let him sign something and certainly before you hand over 250,000 pounds.


So now who is responsible, the con-artist for trying it on or the solicitor for not doing his job?
Or should one just report both of them to the police.

[Richard Webster]

I think we need to know exactly what documents are involved. A "bill of sale" might be use din Scotland, but certainly not in England for the sale of land /property.

Bristol & West v Penn establishes that a solicitor acting in a sale conveyancing transaction warrants that he was authority from the real owner to exchange contracts and complete a sale (and therefore by implication that he has carried out investigations to check that the person he is dealing with actually is the owner of the property in question.)

[lionel1020]

Thank you for your comments Richard, particularly the Penn link.


Having reviewed a little of the case it would seem my own dispute has a lot in common. After the breakdown of my marriage I left to pursue an international career in logistics in Europe and the States. With my agreement my ex wife continued to occupy the house we joint owned in South London. As the house was fairly small I assumed she would eventually want to move, at which time she would require my signature to sell the house. We divorced some years later but she still continued to occupy the house. By this time I had relegated my interest in the house as a long term investment. I did not keep in regular contact with her but she could have contacted me at any time through my family.


It has now come to my notice that the house has been sold with my signature being forged to enable it's completion. This apparently happen some time ago and it may have even been resold by the new "owners". From my inquires my ex wife sold the house (by committing fraud) for around 150,000. The new “owners” resold the house a few years later to the present "owners" for around 235,000.
As I do not have the present address of my ex wife I thought to seek damages in an action for negligence on the part of the solicitors who handled the sale.


Unfortunately I do do not have the name or the address of these solicitors at this time.


Are there any records kept anywhere ? The Land Registry lists only the present “owners”.
Does the Land Registry keep a copy of all the past owners?


Lionel

[Richard Webster]

The Land Registry will probably be able to tell you which solicitors made the application for registration of the purchase from your ex-wife and "you". Contact those solicitors and they may then be able to tell you who acted for your ex-wife and "you".