Possible scam re property's value

[strangey]

Hi
Has anybody any ideas; a 3 bed terraced house was purchased at the end of 2004 for £174,000 by mid 2005 it was sold as 2, 2bed flats for £165,000 a piece, making a combined value of £330,000, this price for this area is excessive now so it would of been a massive price then. They were both exchanged on the same day, and the estate agent thinks that one person bought both. By early 2006 the owner of both flats has done a bunk and they are now being sold as repos, they have been offered to me for a fairly decent price and I am tempted but I can't help thinking there is either a scam going on or has gone on, obviously if I decided to buy, my solicitor would look into this very closely. But I am just wondering if anybody knows of this scam if it is a scam, Thanks:confused:

[justaboutsane]

What do the title deeds say?? If it was sold as a three bed house it would have one title deed, then when it was converted to 2 flats, to enable them to be sold individually they would need seperate title deeds. Depending on the number of title deeds depends on the scam.. however I would have thought if one buyer bought both the scma would work better the other way as stamp duty would be reduced!! It could be they are telling you these stories to sell it to you at an inflated price to make you think you havea bargain!

I would perosnally look at the Land registry history for this property before going any further!

[MrWoof]

Makes sense if the original vendor was a relative. Possible backhanders to the estate agent, wonder how it got past the lender's valuer. Can't see any problems to you though.

[Ericthelobster]

Surely all that matters to you is whether the price you are paying for the properties reflects their current value (which would include all the legal stuff etc such as was the conversion done via building regs approval and with planning permission - you can quickly and easily check those yourself at no cost by visiting the local council offices as that info should be freely available in the public domain). Any 'scam' would surely only have involved the original transaction(s).

[strangey]

I thought all these things, and have checked it all out as much as i can before the solicitor is involved, it all seems ok, it's just the previous prices, that keep nagging at me. Perhaps I have just become a cynic.

[P.Pilcher]

People can make mistakes and loose a lot of money thereby. Provided you have a good solicitor to confirm the title and you are happy with the current price then I can't see much of a problem. Remember, someone was happy with the price a couple of years ago!

If you do find out what the scam if any was, then please post it back here so we are all the wiser.

P.P.

[strangey]

Will do, no problerm. Like I wrote above, it is probably me just being too suspicious. Thanks :)

[strangey]

Hi have found out what the problem is with this property. There is no completion ticket from building control for the conversion into two flats. The council have told me that this property was given permission for an oversized extension, for a disabled bathroom and kitchen to a 3 bed terraced. There are still a few things that bother me about this though.
1/ How did the people that bought the flats off of the builder get a mortgage, when on paper the properties don't exist.
2/The repossession company are still trying to sell the property as two seperate flats, surely this is only going to be a waste of time because as soon as the searches come back, half the paperwork will be missing.
3/If the estate agents/ repo company now know this about the property, isn't this misleading advertising.
:confused:

[davidjohnbutton]

If you are that bothered about these things, rather than buy another person's incomplete troubles, walk away from it - there are plenty more properties which will give you less or no trouble.

Potentially here you might well have the council serving an enforcement notice as soon as a new owner comes along due to the lack of building regulation signoff and possibly lack of planning permission.

[pms]

If you are that bothered about these things, rather than buy another person's incomplete troubles, walk away from it - there are plenty more properties which will give you less or no trouble.

Potentially here you might well have the council serving an enforcement notice as soon as a new owner comes along due to the lack of building regulation signoff and possibly lack of planning permission.

This sounds like another Billy Whizz scenario:D