A moving experience: Couple picked up and left
In bizarre case of title fraud, they stole the house
Two lenders turned to courts to decide complex case
Excerpt from an article by Bob Aaron
Title fraud is in the news a lot lately, with stories of unfortunate homeowners having the title to their houses stolen out from under them.
I can only imagine that finding someone else claiming ownership to your house can ruin an otherwise pleasant day, both for the owner and the mortgage lender.
As distressing as that may be, however, it’s not nearly as bad as finding out that the house itself has been stolen, leaving nothing but the foundations and a vacant parcel of land.
It actually happened to the Toronto-Dominion Bank a few years ago, and it’s one of my favourite stories of title theft.
It all began in Goulbourn Township, a pleasant rural area of eastern Ontario just southwest of Ottawa.
In the summer of 1977, a lawyer whom I will call Brian owned a house located on the 11th Concession of Goulbourn.
He arranged to borrow $50,000 from the Toronto-Dominion Bank, and a mortgage for that amount was signed and registered on the title to the property.
Two years later, Brian wanted to move, but he liked his house so much that he decided to take it with him.
His wife, whom I will call Liz, owned a parcel of land in West Carleton, about 30 kilometres northwest of Goulbourn, and they decided to relocate the house there.
In July 1979, the house was lifted off its foundations and moved to the new location. Brian and Liz neglected to tell Toronto-Dominion that the house the bank thought it had a mortgage on was no longer there.
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