Man walked into house he'd owned for 30 years to find someone living in it and redecorating
When Reverend Mike Hall bought a house in 1990 he had no idea what a hassle he was setting himself up for 30 years down the line, when it was sold to someone else for £131,000 without his permission.
He'd bought the Luton property decades ago but had been away working in Wales in 2021 when the neighbours got in contact to let him know there were people inside the house and the lights were on.
Either someone had moved in or he was being robbed by the world's most conspicuous burglars, and when Mike got back home he discovered his house had new occupants who were in the middle of renovating the place.
He told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours: "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."
Advert
The people living there thought they'd bought their new home and were in the middle of doing it up, and the Reverend had a job on his hands getting to the bottom of what had happened.
The BBC reported that a spot of further investigation revealed someone had used a fake driving licence to impersonate Mike and then set up a bank account to receive the money from selling it.
Phone records of someone pretending to be the Reverend and telling solicitors to sell the house were discovered by You and Yours, which helped explain why the man's house had been sold out from under him.
While the truth had been revealed that wasn't the end of the man's woes.
After a couple of years of court battles, in November 2023 the Reverend declared 'justice has been done' as he finally got himself listed as the house owner on the Land Registry.
But then two months later when he turned up with a builder for some renovations of his own he found the back window smashed and the front door lock 'punched out'.
It turned out that while he'd been away for a while some squatters had moved in as the curtains were closed, the lights on and the boiler being used.
The damage to the house was estimated at around £60,000, and police suggested he go to the court for an Interim Possession Order so the two people believed to be squatting could be arrested, they'd told officers they had a rental agreement.
In the end, Bedfordshire Police confirmed that five people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
In 2025, Reverend Hall finally received some welcome news as a judge told him he'd get outright possession of the home within 14 days.
Looking back over the situation he said the events of the past few years had made him 'quite angry', adding that it was 'quite sad' both for him and the family that had been living in the house.
In February 2026, the BBC reported that four men pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud relating to Reverend Hall's property and another in Southampton.
They are expected to go on trial at Luton Crown Court in July 2027.
Joe Harker