Years Later

01The situation

The seller disowned the sale. The bank's own records showed it was paid for.

An industrial park developer bought land that had passed through an intermediate buyer. Years later, the original seller claimed the first sale was unauthorised, had the revenue entries set aside and sold the same parcels to a third party.

02How it worked

1. 01The seller's land was mortgaged to a co-operative bank. The intermediate buyer paid the bank to release it.
2. 02The sale was registered and revenue records changed to the buyer, who later resold to the developer.
3. 03Years later the seller objected, obtained an order setting aside the old entry and sold to a third party.
4. 04The seller's promoter had an adverse regulatory history, and the company had stopped filing accounts after the sale year.

03The challenge

Reconstruct a thirteen-year-old transaction from incomplete public filings and third-party records, and establish whether the original sale was paid for and recorded.

04Our approach

1. Workstream 01

   Corporate filings review

   Both parties' statements and returns over the period.

2. Workstream 02

   Third-party records

   Payment and release records from the parties to the transaction.

3. Workstream 03

   Litigation and regulatory searches

   Court and regulator records on the seller and its promoter.

4. Workstream 04

   Market intelligence

   Context on the parcels and parties.

05What we found & did

• The original sale was paid for and recorded by the buyer.
• The seller's promoter had an adverse regulatory history.
• The seller's own accounts did not reflect the sale in the relevant year.

06The impact

07Lessons for your business

The controls that would have stopped this, or caught it sooner:

• Title diligence must cover the seller's promoters' litigation and regulatory history.
• Keep the payment chain evidence from the mortgagee bank.
• Monitor revenue records after purchase.
• Be cautious where the seller's signatory is not a director.