Wrong house is repossessed in address mix-up

A father returned home with his baby girl to find his house had been wrongly repossessed after a mistake by a building society.

Matthew Brooks' £150,000 home had been broken into while he was out and the locks changed because agents for the Chelsea Building Society got the wrong house, instead of the right house a few doors down on the same road in Crewe, Cheshire.

A "furious" Mr Brooks, 42, who is not even a customer with the Chelsea, was left standing in the rain with 12-month old Loren, unable to get into his own home. The locks on the house he shares with wife Lindsey, 30, an admin clerk, and their other daughter, seven-year-old Melissa, had been drilled to gain access, and had then been changed.

The correct repossessed house, on Benjafield Court, had been cleared of furniture, so the Chelsea sent a locksmith round to secure the property. But they got the wrong house number, and when the agents broke in to turn off the gas and electricity and change the locks they found the house fully furnished and the heating still on - and realised their mistake.

They left a note in the letterbox and window telling Mr Brooks the new keys to the house were at the estate agents. He then drove to their offices to pick up the keys to his own home.

Mr Brooks described the error as a "massive invasion of privacy". The family have now received a financial settlement of a few hundred pounds from the Chelsea for "upset and inconvenience", and flowers and wine for Mrs Brooks.