The house that you own is probably the most expensive asset and yet the most under protected.  It just does not occur to people that  that their house can be stolen whilst you are not looking!  Reading this you may conjure up a picture of a thief with a gigantic  mega truck driving down the road with a house on it or arriving home to a massive hole in a row of houses where your house once was!  Rest assured, this is not going to happen – the theft of your house will be far more subtle.  You will receive a letter or a visit from a bailiff acting for a mortgage company who has a secured a mortgage against your property that you knew nothing about and that you haven’t being paying the mortgage payments for.  Or you may find a removal truck out the front of your house with the 'new owner' wanting to move in.  This is type of fraud, unfortunately, is on the rise.

How is it done?-  The thieves obtain the full details of the title to your property from the HM Land Registry.  This is easily done on line.   The thieves, having found out from the title deeds who owns the property, will obtain false identity documents in that name; they will then apply to HM Land Registry to have the correspondence address of that property changed to their address or another address they have chosen.  The next step is to apply for a mortgage on the property.  Once the mortgage is given, the thieves take the money and disappear.  The mortgage payments are not made; the mortgage moves into arrears and the house is repossessed.  The first the real owner is aware of this, is when the bailiff appears  and they are threatened with eviction.

A variation of theme, may be when the fraudster actually sells the property to an unsuspecting buyer.   If this is the case, and the buyer has bought the property in good faith (i.e. they genuinely didn’t know the seller didn’t own the property), the buyer can keep the property and the real owner may have to move out!

Surely the real owner would notice a mortgage company valuer or a prospective buyer viewing the house?  -This is the clever bit- the prime targets for this kind of fraud are rented properties, properties that are left empty whilst the owner is away for a significant period of time, those properties where the owner has died and the property is empty whilst the executors wait for the grant of probate to  sort out a sale  or where the owner has had to move into long term care. 

With rented property, the fraudster is already living in the property and in a position to have all correspondence relating to the property from HM Land Registry sent to them at the property and show the mortgage valuer and prospective buyers around the property.  With empty properties, they can find ways of gaining entry.

What Safeguards are there against Property Title Theft?-

Checking ID

When a property is sold or transferred or a mortgage secured against it, the HM Land Registry will want evidence of the identity of the person making the application or for a solicitor to verify that the person is who they say they are.  This will not guard against a fraudster with authentic looking false identity documents which can fool even the most diligent of solicitors.

Restrictions on the Title

A Restriction is an entry on the title that limits the owners ability to deal with the Property.  It will typically lay down a condition that the consent of another party, for example, a mortgage company or bank who has a mortgage secured against the property is required before the property can be sold or another mortgage secured against it.   This is the main reason why fraudsters will generally stick to properties that do not have a mortgage secured against them.

What Can You Do to Guard Against Property Title Theft?

There are several steps that you can take:

1.    Register Your Property At HM Land Registry

Make sure that the title of your property is registered at HM Land Registry.  With unregistered properties the title deeds can be lost or fall into the wrong hands, making it easier for a fraudster to register the property in their own name.

When the property is registered at HM Land Registry, there is a permanent record of your ownership of the property. Any changes to the title will be scrutinised by HM Land Registry using the safeguards that they have in place.

If you suffer loss due to a property fraud, you may be able to obtain compensation from HM Land Registry in some circumstances.

2.    Correspondence Address Registered at HM Land Registry

Make sure that you always keep the details of your address updated at the HM Land Registry.  This will mean that the HM Land Registry can inform you of any changes made to, or applications made against, the title to your property.

The HM Land Registry will  allow you to register three addresses with them.   More than one address is the best, as it would be more difficult for the HM Land Registry letters to be diverted.  A good idea would be for one of the addresses to be your solicitor or other trusted professional.

3.    Put a Restriction on the Title – Apply to the HM Land Registry to have a Restriction put on the title.  A common restriction would be in form ‘LL’:

‘No disposition of [the registered estate or the registered charge dated

(date) referred to above] by the proprietor [of the registered estate or

of that registered charge] 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 disponer is the same person as

the proprietor…..’

An alternative Restriction would be one that requests a certificate from a trusted person (of your choice) to any disposition (form N):

No disposition of the registered estate by the proprietor of the registered estate is be registered without a written consent signed by [                          ] of [                              ]’

This will prevent any dealing (transfer or charge) of the property without the written consent of the person named.

Title Protection Schemes: -<