A 74-year-old Stourbridge widow has failed in a Court of Appeal attempt to save her home from repossession.
The court has dismissed the appeal brought by Gweneth Chater, of Shenstone Avenue, Stourbridge, against a Dudley County Court decision ordering her to give up possession of her home. Chater had defaulted on a mortgage agreement jointly made with her son.
Chater claimed that her signature on the agreement had been procured through the undue influence of her son, who has since disappeared.
Scott Baker LJ, however, has held that, although a case of undue influence had been made out, the mortgage lender was “not a detective”, and there was nothing about the situation that would reasonably have put a prudent lender on notice of the danger of undue influence.
He said: “There was no reason why the lender should not take the loan application at face value. This was an application for a joint loan, and the reasonable assumption was that it was for improvement of the Chaters’ joint living circumstances.”
Mortgage Agency Services Number Two Ltd v Chater and another Court of Appeal (Master of the Rolls, Rix and Scott Baker LJJ) 3 April 2003.
References: PLS News 4/4/03
