Fraudulent use of my address?

There is no easy way to stop your ex-partner from doing this other than telling him not to do it and reporting each instance to the finance company as you find out.

It may be possible to apply to the court for an injunction but as I say so often the costs will be high and the chances of rcovering them will be slight.

The real problem here however is the situation which arises if your ex-partner defaults on the loans.

You may well get visits from debt collectors even though you can never be liable to pay those debts.

Your credit rating may also be affected because for reasons totally unknown to me ratings agencies assess credit worthiness by address as well as by name. Therefore you might not be able to obtain credit simply because your ex-partner used your address.

I regret I do not have any simple way to deal with this other than my advice in my first paragraph.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Ian.

I will do as you suggest and just keep telling the companies that he does not live here so should not be using this address. Can I demand they remove my address from his account / file etc?

I can only assume that he is using his driving licence as proof, would the DVLA do anything?

Thanks

Sue

You can certainly ask the finance companies to remove your address but my experience with this type of company is very poor. They rarely listen or reply to letters.

Yes you should in form the DVLA but again whether they take notice is another matter.

You could check the electoral roll. If he is still registered as living at your address you could apply to have him removed. This may help since a lot of lenders look at this.

I double checked with the elecoral register back in March when the first finance agreement arrived but his name was removed from it last October at my request.  I suspect he may have opened a bank account at this address shortly before he left so will contact them along with the DVLA.

Thanks again for you reply

Hi Sue,

In relation to your credit rating you may want to contact the three main credit reference agencies, callcredit, experian and equifax and ask for a "notice of disassociation" to be applied to your credit profile in relation to your ex partner. This will then show any of your potential lenders that you are no longer financially associated to your ex partner.

I have been in touch with the credit agencys a while ago and did fill in a Notice of Disassociation. it was not accepted as we still have a joint mortgage and a loan in both names (neither of which he has contributed to since leaving). 

On the subject of the mortgage I have another question if thats ok - although we have a joint mortgage the title is in just my name (he signed over his half to me last november).  I didn't use a solicitor and although i got consent from Santander (previously Abbey) to change the title I did not get it in writing.  The deed was registered in the Land Registry (scotland btw). 

My ex now says he has been to see a solicitor and can force me to sell the house and give him half. I don't think this is possible but can you put my mind at rest as I am a little worried he has found some sort of loophole to do as he says.

Thanks

The circumstances here are a little unusual.

Normally in the situation you describe the property is transferred into single names and the outgoing owner is released from his mortgage obligation with consent of the lender.

In your case your the lender did not agree but your ex transferred to you his interest in the property. You would have expected your ex to have taken legal advice. I suspect he did not and I wonder if his solicitor is now telling him that the transfer can be set aside because of this.

If your ex transferred his interest of his own free without any  duress on your part at a time when he was fully aware of all the assets and circumstances surrounding your relationship then I do not believe he can upset the transfer.

One word of caution however - I notice from your last post that you may be domiciled in Scotland.This forum can only give advice on the law in England and Wales. Scotland has a different legal system altogether and therefore there may be differences.

As Ian says the situation surrounding the transfer of legal title is somewhat unusual as I think I mentioned in an earlier post.

Your ex partner may well be able to apply to the court to ask for the transaction to be set aside, i.e. for the property to be transferred back into joint names by the the court. If a solicitor, acting on your behalf, had at least prepared the transfer and sent it to your ex partner together with a covering letter advising him to take independent legal advice and he still signed it it is unlikely that a court would set the transfer aside.

However as the documentation wasn't prepared by a solicitor your ex partner may try to argue that he didn't realise the full implications of what he was signing and didn't know how important the document was.

As Ian has said though this forum only deals with the law of England and Wales and as the property is situated in Scotland any issue arising as a result of the transfer will be dealt with under Scotish law.

I am in Scotland but I am pretty sure he has his solicitor in England (that is where he is from and his family still stay) so that, as you say, could be where the conflicting information is coming from. If it were to get as far as court can I assume it would in a Scottish court as this is where the property is?

He definitely signed the disposition of his own free will and had his financial advisor witness it for him. I also have e-mails between us discussing the property and what was going to happen with it (this was when we were a bit amicable towards each other). 

Last time he threatened to take me to court for half the house I told him to go ahead, so we will just have to wait and see what is in the letter I get from his solicitor.

I got verbal permission from the lender to change the title but didn't follow it up and get it in writing (this break up has been a huge learning curve when it comes to finance and law etc, to get little thing in writing!). I am not too worried about the lender as I think as long as they are getting paid every month that is all they care about.......isn't it?

Thanks for your reply Ian

Hi Sue,

If he does take you to court you will be able to produce all of the correspondence relating to the agreement that the house would be transferred into your name.

I would imagine that the case would be heard in a Scottish court under Scottish law as this is where the property is situated. It would probably be appropriate to consult a Scottish solicitor if you receive a letter from your ex partner's solicitor.

I would be surprised if it gets as far as court but I will certainly make sure I am ready for that outcome.  I am just looking forward to the day I will finally be free of my ex once and for all. 

Thank you both once again for all your replies to my various problems! Fantastic site.