“Why is my Conveyancer so nosey?”

It can be annoying for you, we know, and honestly, we do understand your frustrations.  Having to provide ID documents, all those personal questions, dates of birth, NI numbers, all about your salary, what you do for a living, savings, bank statements, evidence of post sent to you at the address for a property being sold that you do not reside in ….  However, believe it or not – this really is to safeguard you and everyone involved in the transactions.

Buying and selling land or property is an attractive target for people wanting to launder money – most people are aware of that – but the issue of fraud in property transactions is less talked about.  This is where your property is in essence ‘stolen’ from you.

There are so many schemes but the simplest is where fraudsters get the names of the owners at the Land Registry changed from your name into someone else’s name.  They are then free to try and sell the property or raise a mortgage on it – in either scenario, their plan is to take the money and run.

Once the names are changed, someone purports to be you and instructs a property lawyer to act in taking out a mortgage on your property or to sell it.  They provide identification in the changed name shown as the registered owner and will have a well thought out reason as to why their correspondence address is not the property address.  Thankfully, the majority of good property lawyers would not stop there and this is where the `due diligence’ and all of our `Know your Client’ protocols we practice and follow take over.  The questions we ask are so we can be sure that everyone involved in the transaction are who they say they are, that we have proof of that, that they are the proper owners and that they have the right to sell a property.

You may have seen a recent ITV television drama called ‘Our House’ scary story and, whilst made for the dramatic effect, the concept was very plausible.

There are properties that are more at risk to fraud than others.  Properties that remain empty for a considerable time, properties that are rented out and those with no mortgage/charge against the titles – these all fall into a higher risk category for fraud.   If you are living in your property, it is much more difficult for fraudsters to take over but you are not in the same day-to-day control in these other circumstances.

Whilst we will do everything we can to make sure we are satisfied that the person instructing us is the real owner of a property, there are some things you can put in place yourself to protect you against this type of fraud.

Once you are the registered owner of the property, you should sign up for free alerts with the Land Registry. Their `Property Alert Service’ which has been running for some years, is free and the Land Registry will contact you if they become aware of any significant activity on the title to your property.  You can then decide whether this is something you need to contact them and this will put a halt on the application whilst they investigate it.

A restriction can also be entered on the title to your property at a relatively small cost of around £20 that means anyone trying to change the register has to provide a certificate signed by a conveyancer confirming they are satisfied that the person signing the document to change in the register is the same person who is registered as the owner of the property.

Whilst property fraud is not an everyday occurrence, the Land Registry are definitely seeing an increasing number of attempted fraudulent applications each year, particularly post-Covid.  Prevention and taking steps now to protect your property is much better than a lengthy criminal investigation to rectify things so it makes sense to do whatever you can.

In the meantime, we will keep asking for all the evidence and information we need to keep you and your transactions as safe as we can but hopefully, we won’t quite be asking for clients inside leg measurements anytime soon!

For further information, please contact us.

WBW Solicitors has offices in Axminster, Bovey Tracey, Brixham, Exeter, Exmouth, Honiton, Launceston, Newton Abbot, Paignton, Seaton, Sidmouth, and Torquay.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.