Non-English speakers

A son allegedly forged his mother’s signature on mortgage given to Firstfolio. The Firstfolio mortgage was subsequently refinanced by a mortgage given to Bankwest. This time the mother’s signature was allegedly forged by the father. Bankwest claimed...
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The lender obtained orders for possession of the house of elderly Greek pensioners. They now apply to have the judgment set aside on the basis that their signature on the mortgage was a forgery by their daughter. Failure to appear and delay...
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A 74 year old man pensioner who spoke little English was hoodwinked into signing a mortgage. The money went to the fraudster and the court set aside the mortgage under the Contracts Review Act. The lender sued the mortgage broker alleging that the...
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A 74 year old man pensioner who spoke little English was hoodwinked into signing a mortgage. The money went to the fraudster and the court set aside the mortgage under the Contracts Review Act. The lender sued the mortgage broker alleging that the...
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This was a decision of the Court of Appeal damnifying a lender who had loaned money on a mortgage given by elderly non-English speakers for the benefit of their property developer son. The Court of Appeal affirmed the decision of the trial judge in a...
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At the hearing of this matter the guarantors sought an adjournment as they had not yet served their evidence. The adjournment was denied, the guarantors did not participate in the hearing, and the bank obtained judgment. Four of the guarantors (the...
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The loan was secured by the parents’ property. The bulk of the funds were paid directly to the son. The bank obtained default judgment and the parents sought to set it aside claiming that the son forged their signatures on and that the father was not...
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Elderly parents mortgaged their home to secure their son’s borrowings. The mortgagee sued for possession upon the son’s default and the parents claimed undue influence and sought to have the loan and mortgage set aside under the Contracts Review Act...
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The borrower sought to stay of eviction in order to obtain advice as to setting aside judgment granted in 2002. The borrower had a rather complex history of business dealings and borrowings. He had two companies which had been liquidated for failure...
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The borrowers sought to set aside a mortgage taken over the family home in 1988. The lender sought to enforce the mortgage. The interest rate on the mortgage was 20% per annum. This was not unusual, at the time of the loan the interest-rate on Court...
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In this case the lender sought to enforce a mortgage given by two elderly immigrants whose claimed unfamiliarity with English. The mortgage was given to secure a loan made to their son which was allegedly for the purpose of repaying a baseball bat...
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In this matter a Serbian immigrant, who was illiterate in English, who was on Centrelink benefits and had no job, obtained a compensation payout of $40,000 and decided to buy a unit. Some intermediary forged various documents and the loan was...
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In late 2006 the Bank of Western Australia (the Bank) loaned over $32 million to Noble Growth Investment Limited to purchase the Fairmont resort in Leura. The loan was secured by a mortgage over the resort and a fixed and floating charge. In April...
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This involved a loan of $224,000 by way of first mortgage over the home unit of a borrower who was 74 years old, could not speak English, and who’s only apparent source of income was an aged persons pension of about $500 per fortnight. The case was...
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In this matter a Serbian immigrant, who was illiterate in English, who was on Centrelink benefits and had no job, obtained a compensation payout of $40,000 and decided to buy a unit. Some intermediary forged various documents and the loan was...
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This was a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal delivered by Young JA. It involved a Sri Lankan woman who claimed, through the medium of her husband, relief on the grounds of the undue influence of her husband under the Yerkey v Jones principle...
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In this case the bank officer who witnessed the documents did not give evidence claiming "she was too busy". The Court noted that bank could have subpoenaed her but did not and consequently drew a negative inference. The court determined that the...
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A man arranged a mortgage over a property to be purchased in the name of his mother-in-law, as he was a bankrupt and could not own property. This case involved an application by the mother-in-law to set aside part of the default judgment. The...
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The borrower immigrated from Lebanon in 1984. Her husband transferred the house into her name and she asserts he had her sign mortgage documents which she did not understand, did not read, and knew nothing about. The lender asserted her Contracts...
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In this matter the Lender sought orders for judicial sale and the third party mortgagor sought to resist on the basis of non-service of s57(2)(b) notice. The court held where judicial sale is sought a s57(2)(b) notice is not needed. The mortgagor who...
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In this case the owner of the mortgaged property was a 91 year old Sicilian woman who lived in a nursing home and although a resident of Australia for 55 years could not speak, read or write English. The mortgage was executed under a power of attorney...
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In this matter a 81 year old Greek man and his 71 year old Greek wife (both with limited English) granted a power of attorney to their son who used it to transfer a third of the family home to himself and then borrow from Interstar. When that loan...
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This was an urgent application seeking to restrain a mortgagee auction brought on the very morning the property was due to be auctioned. The borrower (Buildx) was represented by its director Mr Maamari. The injuction was sought on the grounds that the...
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In this case Mr & Mrs Riz (the borrowers) sought to escape a mortgage to Perpetual (the lender) by filing a defence under the Contracts Review Act. Mr Riz gave evidence that he came to Australia from Lebanon in early 1977, his wife in 1981. That...
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In this case there was a mortgage and loan agreement provided by Permanent Custodian, signed by Mr and Mrs Yazgi as borrowers. The mortgage was registered. The Yazgis defaulted on payments. Mrs Yazgi claimed her husband had forged her signature on...
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Mortgages were fraudulently registered over the land of the defendant in early 2001 and fraudulently refinanced in late 2001. The defendant discovered the existence of the mortgages and went to the police. The lender brought these proceedings and...
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The plaintiff (Mizzi) was a widowed pensioner of Maltese origin with very limited English and very limited IQ. She was asked by her grandson Stefan Martin Allan for a mortgage over her home. She duly mortgaged her home to clients of RL Kremnizer and...
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 In this case Hall J heard and appeal from the decision of an Associate Judge which itself was a review/appeal from the decision of a Registrar upon an application to have default judgment set aside so a Contracts Review Act defence could be ...
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In 1993, a couple borrowed money from the bank to assist in the purchase of a motor vehicle in the name of the husband. The loan was secured by a mortgage over the wife’s property. The mortgage was an “all monies” mortgage, which secured all monies that...
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