Pensioner takes dogs for walk... and returns to find locks changed and a family living in his home

Pensioner takes dogs for walk... and returns to find locks changed and a family living in his home Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

www.dailymail.co.uk

A pensioner who took his dogs out for a walk returned to find a family had moved into his home.

George Pope, 72, was unable to get into his council house because the locks were changed.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

(visit the link for the full news article)

this is terrifying how the heck is this allowed i mean sure they got scamed but how can they keep mr pope out of his house like that i dont know how this is allowed to happen any where. I didnt think it had gotten that bad in the UK but i hope this isnt a new sign of things to come,almost like a new evil form of identity theft but they take your home instead....

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I am waiting for the benevolent dictator to get elected and imprison all those who helped turn Britain into a police state communist wonderland.

It will be glorious.

Okay, I realize that this is a requirement of ATS, to use the article headline as the subject of a thread, but...

Logic says "a dog walk takes a few minutes" so the implication is different than reality... that he felt ill, went to a friends house and stayed there for a time.

Reading the headline implies "the government forced him out of his house", while, in reality... some scammers got inside and changed the locks.

Reading the headline says "he lost his house! What a crappy system!" while, in reality... he's already back in his home.

There's nothing wrong with pointing out this kind of BS, and the policies that support it, but, come on... this is just supporting the sensationalism that we all decry in the mainstream media.

I came home fro work once and found the locks had been changed on all the doors to my house.
my wife was inside and not answering the knocker or the doorbell or the phone so i spent the night in the doghouse.
what is the big deal here.

This is a harsh situation but a scam non the less. I agree with the above poster regarding sensationalism, very misleading headline. Anything for page clicks I guess.
Regarding that situation, if it happened to me I do not think I would be able to restrain myself. Granted the other party was likley scammed as well but I just dont think I could hold my nerve if I came back home and someone else was living there.

reply to post by slugger9787


Considering your signature I thought it would of been obvious to you what the deal is.

Its getting ruthless out there

reply to post by adjensen


Well, maybe...maybe not. What is really going on here? Is he a renter, sublet, or does he own the propterty?

This is outrageous!

Mr Pope went back to his house on Monday morning to find all his belongings had been thrown out.
Neighbours then helped the him gather up his documents, photographs and clothes.
Mr Pope suspects illegal estate agents of occupying buildings and letting them for money.
'I had been out for just two-and-a-half days. Someone must have been watching me,' he said.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

So a man is away from home 2 1/2 days, hardly long enough to go fishing, or a road trip.
Ok, so the title says "takes dog for a walk" however he was only gone for two days...

reply to post by KilrathiLG


Ahhh, I thought this was another thread about the Israelis in Palestine.

Had the same feel to it...Palistinian comes home to find an Israeli family in their house...

Originally posted by CynicalM
reply to post by KilrathiLG

 

Ahhh, I thought this was another thread about the Israelis in Palestine.

Zing!

Nice one CM.

Friend of mine across the street... had a knock on the door on Monday. Person said she owned the house...

Well turns out my friend who was having difficulties after a work related accident and losing his job. A lawyer was working on his case to get it solved. Seems on Friday the bank sold his house to an investor and didn't feel it was their job to notify him of the sale

Today the constable put a 30 day notice on the door...

Times are rough...

woo whoo....more sensationalism...ATS is full of it these days.

2.5 days is one hell of a long dog walk!

I guess the OP neglected to mention that he's already back in his house?

**** happens in the world. The fact that he's back in his home should be proof enough that the government is not as corrupt as the OP would trick you to believe.

That is insane. It wasn't this guy's fault that these people got scammed, they should have done their due diligence before handing over large sums of money. Because they got scammed, they should be the one's pounding the pavement, not the old fella who probably wouldn't have been suckered so easily.

With that being said, I have heard about this scam before, as it has happened at least a couple of times in the States, though when it happened here, the fake real estate broker actually produced a fraudulent deed. Because of this fraudulent deed, it actually took going to a civil court to sort it all out. The scam here in the States that I'm talking about, was actually for a down payment on the home, so much more than the around $5k reported in this story by the OP. Apparently, the family had gone on vacation and when they returned, a new family was living in the home and all of their furniture and belongings had been taken to the dump and exposed of. Talk about a nightmare.

However, I do believe in this incident, that the family now living in this guy's home should bear the brunt of this scam, seeing how it is they who weren't cautious enough to check out both the realtor and the property. The old fella should not have to bear any of this scam, seeing how he isn't the fool here.


--airspoon

reply to post by adjensen


it doesn't mention anywhere in the headline that the government forced him out at all mate.

reply to post by zorgon


how is that legal?

Originally posted by k0mbination
how is that legal?

Don't know yet... working on that I didn't think it was. I am hoping that may give him an out, if they did this illegally

reply to post by zorgon


Maybe he didn't grease the right palm?

Edit:

Is there some powerful man that might be accepting donations in the area? Perhaps the sheriff could use a campaign contribution.

Well, I know the guy is a pensioner and I know there are some sketchy laws regarding squatting in the UK but this strikes me as odd especially if it is the guys own property. In Australia if you come home to find the locks changed to your house you have every right to re-enter your premises by any means necessary as long as no harm is done to another person. Who knows maybe the UK laws don't allow you to have access to your property, I can't see why the guy couldn't just smash his way in.

Originally posted by burntheships
What is really going on here? Is he a renter, sublet, or does he own the propterty?

This point needs to be clarified for the benefit of non-Britons.

A "council house" is a property built by and rented from "the local council", the local political authority. From an American viewpoint, this would probably be called "socialised housing".

This explains why the council were brought into the problem as well as the police. They are the owners. It also explains why the pensioner was not allowed back until the other family had gone. The council has a responsibilty in the area of "housing needs", and they evidently considered that the "need" of the incoming family was temporarily greater than that of the pensioner. I suspect that the family have now been "re-housed" in a different council-owned property, cutting out the con-man.

Some of the earlier poster's mentioned about 2.5 days not been long enough for a road trip etc, you gotta remember the UK is a tiny little country compared to the states , he could of been of to stay at a friends at the other end of the country for a couple of days and made it back in that time.

We really are a small little island.

This poor pensioner was very lucky to get there house back so quick.

The UK laws on squatting unfortunately do favour the squatter (if they stay with in the confines of the law, as squatting in the UK is pretty much legal provided you follow the rules)

As more and more people fall on hard times and with the UK's current immigration issues and lack of affordable housing I can guess that we will begin to see a sharp rise in cases like this and the next time the real house owner may not be so lucky.