The Land Registry recognise that home owners who do not live in their properties are more likely to be targeted for property fraud than an owner occupier. The Registry have introduced a new restriction that you can place over the title to your property by making a request for a Form LL restriction – requiring solicitors and conveyancers to certify that someone selling or mortgaging a property is the true owner – to be entered in the register. There is no fee for registering this restriction as with many other types that are currently available.
Empty or tenanted properties are more at risk than owner occupied homes and the introduction of this scheme will enable solicitors to help owners to protect their property from fraud and forgery.
In a recent publication from the Land Registry, Chief Land Registrar Malcolm Dawson said Land Registry took the issue of fraud very seriously:
'We work closely with other organisations including the Law Society to do all we can to reduce the opportunities for fraud and to identify and take corrective action when it has happened. This initiative is designed to encourage those who feel their empty or tenanted property might be at risk, to do something to prevent it from being stolen unawares. We have introduced a range of additional checks and safeguards in the last four years and work closely with other organisations to do all we can to tackle fraud. While no system can eradicate fraud completely, since September 2009 we have prevented frauds on more than 100 applications representing properties valued in excess of some £47 million.'
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