Property Fraud - 4 Things You Should Do to Protect Yourself
The Land Registration Act 2002 was meant to help the advance of electronic conveyancing, the aim being to cut out the old fashioned paper process.
Many of the reforms have been beneficial but some have encouraged fraudsters to take advantage of the new electronic systems.
However, there are things you can do to reduce the risks:
- Paper ‘Title Deeds’ no longer exist. It is possible for a property to be sold without the ‘seller’ ever producing original documents. Be careful about identity theft.
- If you rent out a property or own a holiday home, make sure that the Land Registry has your up to date correspondence address, not the address of the property that may be sold or re-mortgaged without your knowledge.
- If you do not live at the property, you can register a ‘restriction’ against the title that no sale or re-mortgage of the property is to be registered without a certificate signed by a conveyancer who is satisfied that the person who executed the document is the same person as the owner.
- Be wary of fake emails! If you are notified of a change to a solicitor’s bank details, always telephone the solicitor and speak to someone whose voice you recognise to check this.