Luton vicar get ‘stolen’ house back after nearly four years of legal battles

An estate agent board advertising properties to sell. Photo by SUSANNAH IRELAND/AFP via Getty Images

A reverend whose Luton house was sold without him knowing has had the property given back to him nearly four years after his identity was stolen.

Mike Hall returned from Wales to his Luton home in 2021 to find that someone pretending to be him had sold it for £131,000.

The Land Registry put his name back on the title of the house, but when he returned in 2023, he found that a family was living there.

Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days at Luton County Court on Monday, March 10.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Hall said he was "quite angry about the way in which this has played out" and "quite sad" for both himself and the family living there.

The incident was revealed when his neighbours told him that someone was in his house, and all the lights were on, while he was working in North Wales in 2021.

When he drove back to Luton he found the new owner doing building work on his house.

"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," he told the BBC.

Bedfordshire Police arrested five people in connection with the incident and investigations are ongoing.