Home owners lose everything after property fraudulently mortgaged to criminals

A couple awarded $2.7m after buying a home they couldn’t acquire due to an alleged fraud can’t get compensation due to State Government’s appeal, parliament has heard. Find out why

The “miserly” State Government should pay a Gold Coast couple the $2.7 million they were awarded by a court for being innocent victims of a property fraud, State Parliament has heard.

Jess and Jackie Morecroft in April were awarded $2.7 million by the Queensland Supreme Court after a five-year court battle over a house they bought but could not acquire. The State Government launched an appeal to avoid paying their $2.7m award.

The couple had paid $1.265m for the family home at a mortgagee auction in 2018.

But court documents revealed soon after the settlement they could not transfer the property into their names due to the Register of Titles placing a caveat over it saying it was “fraudulently mortgaged by criminals”.

Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens in a speech in State Parliament on Thursday night: “The Morecrofts bought their house five years ago, before the boom, at public auction and did everything honestly and correctly to satisfy all legal compliance issues.

“Unbeknown to them, the son of the previous owner had fraudulently mortgaged the property with moneylenders which resulted in the house being sold as a mortgagee in possession.”

Mr Stevens further added subsequent court cases returned ownership to the mother of the son

with the courts ordering the Government compensate the Morecrofts the $2.7m the house was now worth.

“The Titles Office failed to transfer title of the property to the Morecrofts awaiting outcome of the court cases about the fraud,” he said.

“This has led to the Morecrofts being financially crippled following court costs and the seizure of their home which they had innocently purchased,” Mr Stevens told Parliament.

“This is a one-off case with no precedent to be created by the Government settling their $2.7 million debt to the Morecrofts as ordered by our independent judiciary.”

Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens — he is standing up for residents, innocents caught in a property fraud. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Mr Stevens, speaking in Parliament, likened Treasurer Cameron Dick to “Ebenezer Scrooge” as the financial keeper of the State’s $7.6 billion Titles Office.

“It beggars belief that the Treasurer can ignore the directive of the courts of Queensland to pay innocent victims of a Queensland fraud over a house they purchased, the $2.7 million compensation they are owed over their home in Mermaid Beach,” Mr Stevens said.

The couple bought a home at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast.

“The Treasurer in his miserly and ill-advised attitude by appealing the decision of the Courts

demonstrates a complete lack of empathy and feeling for a totally innocent victim of a substantial fraud in Queensland.”

Mr Stevens said he would ask Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to step in and withdraw the appeal and pay the Morecroft’s the $2.7 million they were owed – allowing them to get back into a home.

Dragging out the case would cause the Morecroft’s more financial pain along with costs for the taxpayer, he added.

Mr Stevens said he was sure “the three compassionate and considerate judges of the Court of Appeal will uphold in the Morecroft’s sensible award in the lower courts”.

“The ridiculousness of this appeal could even escalate to the High Court if the bloody-mindedness the Treasurer is demonstrating is not curtailed by the Premier. I genuinely ask that

sanity and goodwill prevail, and the appeal against the Supreme Court decision be withdrawn,” he said.

Lawyers for the State during the trial had argued they should not pay compensation.

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Originally published as Home owners lose everything after property fraudulently mortgaged to criminals