England - Squatter takes vacant house from pensioner - and sells it for more than 600,000 euros
In 2012, Keith Best officially moved into a vacant house in east London with his family. He had been renovating it for several years beforehand. Finally, the construction worker applied to court for permanent ownership of the terraced house in Newbury Park, which was worth 400,000 pounds (around 500,000 euros) at the time - and he was successful. Even though the house already belonged to someone else. But how did this come about?
As the Daily Mail exclusively reports, the house originally belonged to a woman who lived there with her son. The mother died in the late 1980s at the age of 88 - without leaving a will. Her divorced son remained living there until he moved into sheltered accommodation in 1996. Although he continued to pay license fees, he rarely visited the property and hardly kept it in good condition. The 54-year-old Best apparently saw this as his opportunity.
Shortly after moving into the house with his family, he filed an application for adverse possession. Until September 2012, squatting was not yet considered a criminal offense in England and squatters had the opportunity to gain possession of a property by living in it for a certain period of time - which is still the case today under certain conditions.
Squatter in London applies for possession and is proved right
According to the report, Best explained in court at the time: "I started working on the property in 1997. I then invested time and money to look after the house. Since 2001, I have treated the house as my own."
Initially, his application was rejected because it was submitted weeks after the law changed. However, an appeals court ruled in his favor in 2014 and decided that the previous legislation should be applied.
The pensioner, who had previously lived in the house with his mother and who died in 2018 at the age of 80, did try to take legal action against this. However, as he had forgotten to register as administrator of his mother's estate after her death, he had no legal right to fight for her house.
Best has since sold the property for almost 630,000 euros (540,000 pounds).
" Daily Mail, gov.uk
Lesen Sie auch:
- Despite the house originally belonging to a woman in London during the 1980s, a squatter named Keith Best managed to gain permanent ownership by applying for adverse possession in 2012.
- The woman, who lived with her son, passed away without leaving a will, and her son continued to reside in the property until 1996, paying license fees but barely maintaining it.
- Best saw this as an opportunity to file an application for adverse possession, as squatting was not yet considered a criminal offense in England at that time, allowing individuals to gain possession by living in a property for a certain period.
- The pensioner's attempt to take legal action against Best's claim was unsuccessful due to his failure to register as administrator of his mother's estate after her death.
- Following his successful court case, Best sold the property in Newbury Park for an impressive 630,000 euros, making a substantial profit from the vacant house.
Source: www.stern.de
