According to a BBC report property frauds have increased from 540 in 2020-2021 to 600 in 2021-2022.
A typical fraud will result in a fraudster successfully impersonating a property owner and then benefitting financially from selling or mortgaging the property.
The scenarios which scammers try and exploit include:
• Property not registered with Land Registry;
• Empty property, especially where vacant for a long period of time;
• Buy to let and commercial property;
• There are no mortgages or charges on the property; and/or
• Your personal identity documents have been stolen or cloned.
So, how can you protect your property from fraud?
The basics include making sure that your electronic communications are secured by strong passwords and firewalls and your physical correspondence is dealt with personally.
Further, any documentation containing your personal information should be treated with care and disposed of securely.
You can also protect your property by:
• Registering your property at Land Registry. Currently, about 15% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered.
• Creating a Property Alert account at Land Registry at https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/. This is a free service from Land Registry which keeps a watch on potential activities affecting your property. Land Registry will alert you if there are any attempted changes to your details on the property register including any amendment to your personal details or any attempted sales or mortgages. Note there may be a delay in receiving alerts and it may not stop a potential fraud from happening.
• For the best form of protection, you can enter a Restriction on the property register which will trigger a request for consent from you or your solicitor before any further dealings can be registered in respect of your property. Only your consent or that of your solicitor will enable the change to be registered at Land Registry.
Overall, there are a number of actions you can take to ensure you are not subject to a nasty property fraud. Do not leave it to chance.
Lawcomm Solicitors would be delighted to help you, your family and/or your business to ensure your property is protected by registering a formal Restriction or advising you further in accordance with your particular circumstances.
Should you require any further information regarding purchasing a property or protecting a property from potential frauds, please do not hesitate to contact me on E: bill.dhariwal@lawcomm.co.uk or DDI: 01489 864 117.
The contents of this article do not constitute legal advice.
