Securing The Vulnerable And Their Properties - The Land Registry Attacks Property Fraud

You may have heard or read in the press that, as part of their continuing efforts to reduce the levels of property fraud in England and Wales, the Land Registry has now identified certain categories of property owners who may be more susceptible to property registration frauds.

The owners identified include, for example, elderly owners who have moved into a care home. Often, such parties own properties that are not subject to mortgages in favour of banks or building societies. As the titles to those properties do not then contain restrictions that prevent sales or other mortgages from being registered without the consent of the original mortgage lender, attempts could be and have been made to sell or mortgage the property following an identity fraud.

Other types of owners who may be particularly at risk of this fraudulent activity include:

owners who no longer live in the property (and those who reside abroad) owners who let the property or who own empty property owners who have already been the victim of identity fraud The Land Registry has also identified certain types of properties that may be particularly vulnerable to registration frauds, such as:

unoccupied properties, whether residential or commercial tenanted properties high value properties that are not subject to mortgages Having identified these types of potentially vulnerable owners and properties, the Land Registry has taken steps to combat this type of fraud and has prepared a new form of Restriction which can be registered against the title to a property. The wording of this new restriction is as follows:

"No disposition of the registered estate by the proprietor of the registered estate is to be registered without a certificate signed by a conveyancer that he is satisfied that the person who executed the document submitted for registration as...