When This Luton Town Man Returned Home To Find It Was Sold To Someone

It’s common for people to leave their permanent residences to go and look for work or other purposes. But it is rare to see them turning ‘homeless’ upon returning home. A UK man from Luton Town was in for the shock of his life when he returned to his property only to find it had been sold without his knowledge. To make it worse, another family was living there and redecorating it.

According to a BBC report, Reverend Mike Hall, who purchased the house back in 1990, learned in August 2021 that his house was sold for £131,000. Hall, who lives in north Wales for his professional endeavours, got to know about the same after his neighbours informed him about lights on at his place and that someone else was living there.

Taken aback by the news, Hall rushed back to Luton and found the new owners carrying out redevelopment work at the terraced building.

Talking to BBC, Hall shared his experience and said, “I tried my key in the front door, it didn’t work and a man opened the front door to me – and the shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture, everything was out of the property.”

Man finds damages worth £60,000

Upon further investigation by BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme, it turned out that a fake driving license was used to impersonate Hall and a bank account was also set up to receive the proceeds of selling the place. After almost two years of court battles, it was in November 2023 that Hall received justice as his name was finally listed as the owner of the place on the land registry.

However, just two months later, Hall faced another trouble after he showed up with a builder to make plans for the place. He found that the window at the back was broken while the front door’s lock had been “punched out”.

Hall finally reckoned that squatters might have moved in the curtains as the windows were closed, lights switched off, and the boiler was in use. Later, he discovered that there was £60,000 worth of damage. The police advised him to go back to the courts for an Interim Possession Order.