Property Con

[cclark6891]

A male family friend of mine has been in a relationship (not married) with a woman for 2 years.
She moved into his �400,000 house with him, of which �200,000 had been paid off.
She then paid him �30,000 in the form of a cheque to put towards the mortgage, and to put her name on the deeds. So there is now his and hers name on the deeds.
Note that he was still paying 100% of the monthly mortgage repayments.

3 weeks after that had been finalised, she told him she was leaving him, and wanted 50% of the property (�200,000).

It has been discovered that she had already previously lined up moving into another flat. Although she is unaware that he knows this yet.

She is in her late 30's and has 1 child. He is in his late 40's and has 2 children. Both are previously divorced.
She had left her previous husband for him.

I worked with her ex-husband in a 2-man office, and he told me he couldn't get his head around why she was leaving him. She had also just got him to buy her a new car, which he said he wouldn't have done had he have known (she was leaving him).

It appears to us that she left her husband for our friend at a time when his father had just passed away (so therefore vunerable I imagine), has waiting it out for some months to get her name on the deeds, and as soon as its done, ruin his life by making a claim for half of all he has. All for �30,000 (From divorcing her ex-husband!) and 2 years of her time.

To me it all seems like a con from way back when she was still with her first husband.

Our friend is such a top bloke that its gutting to see this happening to him. So any advice anyone has would be grateful.

[lady_p_gold]

Well it may well be a con, but unfortunately in this life you have to be a bit streetwise, and to put someone on the title of your house when they had only given you 30k regardless of the situation re his father, you would have thought would have rung alarm bells. So, although it is very worrying and I do feel for your friend, he may well find himself in trouble here as they are, I presume joint tenants of the property. Whether he could have a legal right to show that there was some subterfuge or intent to defraud I don't know but I think it is pretty unlikely.

[johnny37]

Surely a con is a con. Report her to the police. It would be differnt if they had been married 30 years and shared everything equally. In these circumstances I dont think the court would look very favourably on her claim to half the property. And your friend should get himself a good solicitori to offer her the pprtion she did pay in return for removing her name from the deeds.