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More than 12,000 people have signed up for free, award-winning Property Alert service six months after launch

Six months on from the launch of Land Registry’s award-winning Property Alert service more than 12,000 people have signed up to the free service which provides an early warning of suspicious activity on someone’s property.

Alasdair Lewis, Director of Legal Services, said:

We introduced Property Alert to help people to protect their most valuable asset – their home. We’re glad that Property Alert has proved so popular. However, there are still many homeowners who are unaware of the risk of property fraud and how to protect themselves so we are asking people to share our advice and video with their friends and family to spread the word.

An example where Property Alert could have raised the alarm earlier

Mr Q rented out his property using letting agents while he lived overseas. His letting agents were approached by someone claiming to have bought the property. This was a surprise to them, so they contacted Mr Q.

Mr Q then contacted Land Registry’s property fraud line. Upon investigation, it was found that an application to transfer Mr Q’s property into the name of a buyer had been received. A staff member also spotted discrepancies between Mr Q’s signature and previously scanned documents. We sent a letter to the buyer’s solicitor requesting confirmation of the steps taken to verify Mr Q’s identity.

Mr Q’s solicitor also contacted Land Registry to confirm that he had known the family for over 20 years and that Mr Q had not sold his property. He referred the matter to the police on Mr Q’s behalf.

As we had not received sufficient evidence from the buyer’s solicitor in respect of the signature verification for Mr Q, we cancelled the transfer application and the sale wasn’t registered.

If Mr Q had signed up for Property Alert he would have received an email alert when Land Registry had first received notification that a transfer of ownership would be arriving. He could then have looked into the matter sooner.

What is property fraud?

Property fraud can happen in many ways. For example, fraudsters may steal someone’s identity and attempt to acquire ownership of a property by using forged documents. The fraudsters may then raise money by mortgaging the property without the owner’s knowledge before disappearing with the money, leaving the owner to deal with the consequences.

Land Registry has stopped fraud on properties worth more than £66 million in the last five years. In a recent case, two fraudsters managed to pocket £50k by selling an empty home they didn’t own. Staff at Land Registry spotted the fraud before it was registered but the fraudsters got away with the money and are still wanted by police.

How Property Alert works

• you will need to set up an online account with Land Registry which is free
• you will be able to monitor up to ten properties
• email alerts will be sent when Land Registry receives an application to change the register as well as for official searches (which can be sent to us up to 30 working days before the application is sent and ‘freeze’ the register until the application is received). You can then judge whether or not the activity is suspicious and if you should seek further advice

For example, if you receive an alert that a bank has lodged a search on your property but you haven’t applied for a mortgage, you may want to seek legal advice, contact Action Fraud, or contact the bank in question to tell them you are the owner and have not applied for a mortgage. Investigations into the authenticity of the mortgage application can then begin much earlier in the process.

Properties most likely to be at risk from property fraud:

• tenanted properties – for example where the landlord lives elsewhere, a tenant might try to mortgage or sell the property without the landlord’s knowledge.
• empty properties - such as where the owner lives abroad or is in a care home
• where there are family disputes. For example, in a relationship break-down someone could try and mortgage a property without their partner knowing
• properties without a mortgage

Other measures to help protect yourself against property fraud: • Make sure your property is registered. If you become an innocent victim of fraud and suffer financial loss as a consequence, you may be compensated • Once registered, ensure Land Registry has up-to-date contact details so we can reach you easily. You can have up to three addresses in the register including an email address and/or an address abroad. The more information you provide, the more chance we have of reaching you if we need to • Owners can make a request to have a restriction entered on their property. This is designed to help prevent forgery by requiring a solicitor or conveyancer to certify they are satisfied that the person selling or mortgaging the property is the true owner

More property fraud advice

Notes to editors

1. People who are not online can also sign up for Property Alert by calling 0300 006 0478
2. Land Registry operates a Property Fraud line for anyone who thinks they may be the victim of property fraud. 0300 006 7030 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm).
3. The Property Alert service won a Real IT award in May 2014 in the ‘Innovation in business’ category
4. Land Registry’s dedicated counter fraud team works closely with the police and other agencies to help protect properties against property fraud.
5. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been an open document since 1990.
6. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 23 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.
7. For further information about Land Registry, visithttps://www.gov.uk/land-registry. Follow us on Twitter. Find us onLinkedIn, Facebook and our blog.

Jessica Prasad

Email jessica.prasad@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk

Telephone 0300 006 7037