Part of Richard Hill [pictured ] role as a Land Registry Guarantee & Litigation lawyer, is to look at rectification and indemnity in respect of property fraud cases. This means that I see first-hand the dreadful impact that property fraud can have on the victim.
Since 2009 Land Registry has prevented frauds on properties valued in excess of £80 million. However, no system can be 100 per cent fraud-proof. That’s why I think it’s important to work together with our professional customers to widen the reach of our property fraud advice.
As our business customers, many of you have more direct contact with members of the public than we do and could help your clients by highlighting the range of advice we offer on how to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of property fraud.
Website
An easy way would be to link to the information on our website. For instance, we explain that by putting a restriction on their title, your clients can ensure we won’t register a sale or mortgage on their property unless a conveyancer or solicitor certifies that the identity of the person who has requested the transaction has been verified.
We also have a dedicated page about our free Property Alert service. We know members of the public like the service from a recent survey we carried out. Some comments received included: “My home is my biggest asset. I want to keep it secure” and “It’s easy to set up, has worked well for me so far plus it gives me peace of mind”.
Protect your property from fraud
If you’d prefer to give your clients something tangible, we’ve produced two leaflets; one containing general property fraud advice and one specifically about Property Alert.
You may have already been told about these by your customer team and several firms have ordered a number to distribute to their clients. If you’d like some, please contact your customer team with your request.
download / print property alert > leaflets 1 2
If you don’t have a customer team, please email us stating how many leaflets you’d like and the address to send them to.
Thank you
Many of you already carry links to our advice and have requested leaflets for your clients, for which thank you. If you have any ideas about how to promote property fraud advice more widely, please let us know.
More property fraud advice < available here also .Landnet > See more at: http://blog.landregistry.gov.uk/reaching-people-property-fraud-advice/#sthash.phivqMtl.dpuf
Further Reading
Land Registry's monthly Market Trend Data for residential property prices in England and Wales
Powers of attorney and conveyancing
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