This recent article about a house owner coming home only to find that it had been sold by someone impersonating him is a reminder that property fraud is still very much a concern, despite HM Land Registry's continued efforts at requiring ID checks by solicitors. 

Conveyancers are under an obligation to check the identity of their clients. If there are any warning flags (such as the property being vacant, or the person purporting to be the seller using a different address or providing information different to that disclosed by searches) conveyancers should consider asking for further documentation to establish their client's link to the property. This could be utility bills in their name, correspondence relating to the property acquisition, or invoices for works done to the property.

But what steps can a property owner take to avoid coming home after a period of absence to find new owners registered at HM Land Registry and happily drinking a cup of tea in the living room? There are a couple of options available. HM Land Registry offers a property alert service which sends out an email alert if someone applies to change the register for the property. This won't block any changes being made to the registered title, but it will provide a prompt alert by email so that action can be taken quickly if necessary.

Where there is genuine concern that a property may become the subject of an attempted fraudulent disposition, typically where the property owner is overseas, an application can be made to HM Land Registry to enter a restriction on the property title. This provides protection against forgery by requiring the conveyancer to certify that they are satisfied that the person acting as seller who executed the document submitted for registration is the same person as the registered proprietor (or, in the case of property owned by a corporate entity, that the person signing does hold their stated office at the company). This gives an extra layer of protection for more vulnerable properties, which might also act as a deterrent to would-be fraudsters. It does, of course, put the onus back on the conveyancer to do careful ID checks, and not take anything at face value. Otherwise, property owners may find themselves in the same position as poor Reverend Hall.