By David Williams, Director and Head of Property
Many may have read about the recent case where an individual had his house sold without his knowledge. This is a type of scam that typically targets properties: –
Which are currently empty
Where the legal owner of the freehold does not live in the property e.g. buy to let properties
Where there is no mortgage on the property
Which are not yet registered with the Land Registry
The fraud involves criminals attempting to transfer your property into their own name by using false documents and/or stolen identities.
If they are successful they can attempt to sell your property, or raise a mortgage against it, without you knowing. The repercussions can be devastating with owners being unable to retrieve their property and having to try to claim compensation from the Land Registry.
In an attempt to combat this type of fraud the Land Registry have created a Property Alert service.
By registering with the Property Alert service Land Registry will be able to alert homeowners to any attempt to alter the details of the property registers. Although Land Registry have had some success in stopping some cases of fraud, they have been unable to detect all of them.
Therefore, if you wish to safeguard your property against such fraud you should consider the following:
If your property is not registered at Land Registry you should make a voluntary application for registration.
Sign up for the free Land Registry Property Alert service. You can get alerts for up to 10 properties, which is particularly useful if you have a portfolio of buy to let properties.
Apply to Land Registry to enter a restriction on your title. By doing this Land Registry will refuse to register any sale or mortgage on your property unless a conveyancer or solicitor certifies that the application was made by you. If you live in the property land registry will charge a fee of £40.00
Onions & Davies will be happy to advise on any of the above and quote for the cost of carrying out any applications for registration, if necessary. Please contact david@onionsanddavies.co.uk or 01630 652405.