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OWNING a house is the dream of every person.
Losing the investment to crooks can be the ultimate nightmare especially given the years which one would have sacrificed to eventually own a house.
This could be the case with the woman who lost her Avondale apartments to a person she entrusted to manage them.
The property under the spotlight is worth about US$780 000.
The devastated property owner, Patricia Kahlani, 51, assigned Louis Versrimani, 71, to run and manage her apartments since October last year.
Under the deal, the manager was tasked to collect tenant rentals and remit them to the landlady.
Versrimani found a loophole and later sold the apartments without Kahlani’s knowledge.
She only discovered that her apartments had been sold when she approached the Deeds Office intending to sell her property.
The news came as a shock to the landlady who is now counting her losses after years of investment.
The manager, who is facing fraud charges, is in hiding and on the police wanted list.
To think that she was duped by the person she entrusted with management of her property portfolio is very painful.
As we sympathise with the woman, her case serves as a lesson to many of us about entrusting strangers with the management of our properties.
Similar cases have been reported all over the country.
In this case, a lot of questions are being asked about how and where fraudsters got the title deeds.
The Deeds Office’s credibility is now under the spotlight because if strangers can easily sell someone’s property, without verification with the owner, then there is something wrong with our systems.
Our systems should guard against such things happening.
They should offer the best possible protection to the title owners.
The systems should have a way of detecting the little things which these conmen use to try and defraud property owners.
The whole idea of having title deeds is to ensure that ownership of property is clear and when changes are to be effected, the consent of the owner has to be there.
Thorough investigations will help to cast a spotlight on what happened in this case and why it was seemingly easy for the process, to dupe the property owner, to sail through.
The former property manager should be hunted down and explain how he sold someone’s property behind her back.
We can’t afford to let these crooks continue reaping from where they did not sow.
Owing a property takes a lot of sacrifice. Property owners should also engage registered and reputable real estate agents to run their properties.
They might have their demands and it might come with huge costs but it is worth it at the end of the day.
You can sleep soundly knowing that your property is in the right hands.
These are professionals and they wouldn’t want their reputations tarnished by fraudulent deals.
Online Reporter