The Queensland government has refused to pay out a Gold Coast couple who found out the house they bought never belonged to them, five years after they moved in.
Lawyers for the state have lodged an appeal against a monetary order made earlier this year, arguing the judge who approved the $2.7 million compensation got it wrong.
In February, the Queensland Supreme Court ruled Jess and Jackie Morecroft's Mermaid Beach home still belonged to the previous owner – 83-year-old Hind Issa – and was never transferred into their names, even though it had been sold and paid for.
