No, there’s no error in the title of this post. But having come across this news report recently of how a man in Manchester found his home had been put up for sale on Rightmove without his knowledge.
After having probably worked hard all his career to pay off his mortgage, the very action of releasing his deeds from his lender opened him up to the risk of having his house put on the market by fraudsters.
They simply stole a few utility bills from the homeowner’s mailbox, and used them to transfer the property deeds into their own names! The equivalent of doing this in front of you is, knocking on your door, waiting for you to open the door, and then when you do, changing the locks right there while you wait and then walking in and putting their feet up whilst glancing through the listings on your Sky+ box.
They literally took ownership of his house whilst he was in it. My wife has often started doing the bed whilst I’m in it, but this is another level of crazy.
The advice can’t be to not pay off your mortgage. But we may all want to give some thought to how secure our deeds when we finish paying off our mortgages.
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