In the United States, getting a steal on a home is buying it for under the market price. In Canada, getting a steal on a home may include selling a home that is not yours and getting away with it. And the worst part, the original owner can typically do nothing to protect themselves.
Canada law is designed to protect the mortgage companies first, with a Title Insurance fund that is government run and very very inefficient.
A couple renting a home used forged documents to steal a 450,000 dollar home from an elderly man who used the proceeds to fund the education of his relatives in Hungary. Now the home is stolen and the police and government officials have told him that it will be years before he see’s any money or gets compensation from the Ontario Land Title Assurance Fund. And he will have to pay legal fees to work the system.
Reviczky could not believe his ears on June 26 when his neighbour, a real estate agent, told him she had noticed on the computer that he had sold his rental property in May.
“So I went back to my office, got the record from the computer and showed it to him,” Vivian Ho told the Toronto Star. “His face turned red and I was worried that he was going to have a heart attack.”
Police believe Reviczky’s most recent “tenants” forged his name on a power of attorney that purported to give a grandson named “Aaron Paul Reviczky” authority to sell the home on his behalf.
“I don’t have a grandson named Aaron,” Reviczky says. “I don’t have any grandsons.”
On May 15, “Aaron Paul Reviczky” sold the property on his behalf for $450,000 to a purchaser named Pegman Meleknia, who took out a mortgage of $337,500.
“I did not get the proceeds,” Reviczky says.
Reviczky’s lawyer, Tonu Toome, says it was “very painful” to have to break the news to Reviczky that he may lose his house forever — even though he was an innocent victim of fraud — because Ontario law recognizes the transaction as valid where the purchaser is unaware of the scam.Read the rest at TheStar.com
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Justice is only for those who can afford it. I know because my family and I are victims. We have title insurance which showed no CIBC mortgage on the policy to our home. However, that changed when the bank CIBC sent us papers. We quicklycalled the lawyer who sold us Stewart title insurance for help, and instead of helping us file for title insurance, he reprinted the policy to show the fraudulent mortgage.
This lawyer in a letter to us, instructed us to destroy the original policy which showed no mortgage. The first policy had a letter from this lawyer with a signature that is different from the second letter asking us to destroy the original policy. ???? So what is the use of title insurance???
We got our home stolen the first time and the lawyer who was responsible died but his firm gave us back title without resolving the mortgage. THey told us we were not responsible. The bank said we were not responsible. Then when we were putting our lives together after such a horrible experience, the bank slipped a judgment on our home without us knowing about the court date.
Yes, we are sitting ducks! The law only protects if you have money to hire the lawyers. I am just truly frustrated……….Brampton, Ontario
contact me at mortgagefraud@gmail.com if you think you can help. Thank you.
We filed a complaint about the dead lawyer thinking he set us up. The law society said they couldn’t do anything. Now we know they didn’t even do their due diligence. The lawyer who put the mortgage on our home was not the dead lawyer but another who is not even listed on the law firm’s website. Thanks to a kind soul from the bank who sent us the document to prove the poor dead lawyer is actually innocent.
Our furniture and legal documents like passports and birth certs including military documents and my degree certificate from University was illegally seized by the bank and put in storage for the con man compliments of CIBC and PC bank (president’s choice bank)
Bank stole our stuff without even telling us the bank was emptying our home contents. In November 2007 while our house was being emptied, we couldn’t even get the police to stop them. What good is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom? Someone please tell the Queen that the Charter of Rights is useless.
Now we are truly worried because we have no personal documents. A family member has recently passed away, we have no way of even leaving the country because our personal documents and passports is held by CIBC and President’s choice bank /PC bank for the con man to collect.
AMJ Vanlines has informed us that they are being told to hold all of our property for the con man. As I write this I am thinking … I am not sure if Canada is a country with laws to protect the innocent or a puppet country for these con artist. No legal entity in Canada seems to care!!!!
Last but not least, I am truly angry at these banks. If our child’s photos and videos currently held by the bank’s agents get used by the perverts of society, I am going to find an ethical lawyer outside of Canada who will fight for our rights.
The last lawyer we hired in July 2007 who promised to file an emergency injunction against CIBC and PC financials bank has already been warned. We have filed a complaint against him on April 1, 2008 (APRIL FOOLS DAY) to the law society. Lets hope they do something this time because there is a long string of lawyers who will be filed next.
Our family need the support of people and we thank you for reading this.
{ 1 trackback }