Wrong title handed over

My parents recently sold their house. He went to his solicitor's office to collect the title. They made him sign for it, etc, but when he took it to the purchaser's solicitor and they opened it, they discovered he'd been given the title to an entirely different property, owned by somebody else with a similar surname.

He immediately returned it, of course, but... wow, that's extremely poor form.

 

Did they get the true title ? Mind you most titles are dealt with electronically and paper is largely redundant. It has as much use as a used train ticket
Titles Registry Paper certificates of title — Queensland Law Society

 

The last property I purchased in WA 7yrs ago I got given my title plus someone else’s.

 

Can properties be stolen? I saw A Current Affair story tonight in which someone rents a car, then the car was sold a few times in a few days. Has anyone got any story of property (real estate) theft?

 

yes its happened many times.

 

What was the usual method of stealing and how can we prevent that?

 

have a google and read about some of the cases. People find vacant houses where the owner might be overseas, they pretend to be the owner and then mortgage the house or sell it and run away with the cash.
Having an existing mortgage on the property can add another hoop for them to go through, but also it is getting harder for them as compulsory ID checks are introduced for mortgaging and transferring property.

 

Your best security is keeping it with the bank with $5 owing.

 

I feel your pain.

 

I ended up owning a property and never knew it, till the owner went to sell. I know crazy.
Error made by settlement lawyer, we had very similar business names

 

That was advice given to me by someone who was investigating previous fraud cases.

 

Oh, there you go! Advice was to place a caveat on property.
Protection against title fraud?

 

That's what we've been doing.

 

It's a bit of a pain, to be honest.

 

Hi all, I k ow its an old thread and I tried reading somersoft debate as well, may I ask whats the final verdict for someone if the prop is kind of a cadh purchase and no loan/caveat....what will happen at settlement- Conveyancer will send us the Title deed via email or registered post?

And we keep it home, how do one add caveat if do not want loan and what it could be any examplea ?

 

A D11 & a fleet of low loaders.