Property Alerts at the Land Registry and Restrictions on Title to Prevent Fraud

Although the risk of being the victim of fraud involving your property cannot be eliminated altogether, there are steps you can take to protect your property from being fraudulently sold or mortgaged.

What is a property alert?

Property Alert is a free service offered by the Land Registry which allows you to receive notifications when any applications or priorities are made against the legal title of a registered property. This service is useful particularly if you own properties which you do not occupy and may rent out. Property and mortgage fraud is a very real risk whereby people will purport to be the registered proprietor and either attempt to sell or take out a mortgage against the property. Whilst solicitors will conduct relevant identity checks and carry out the necessary due diligence, Property Alert offers an extra layer of protection against this.

How does it work?

You can sign up and create an account at Land Registry Property Alert. The alerts will go to the email address you sign up with. Each account you create allows you to monitor up to 10 properties and these properties can be changed. The alerts will contain information on who to contact if you believe any of the activity looks suspicious.

Who is it for?

Anyone can apply to monitor a property. You do not need to own the property you would like to sign up to alerts for. This means that multiple people can apply to receive alerts for the same property. It is likely, however, that only people who have a registered interest in the title will be able to object to an application being made to the title.

Adding a restriction on the title

Additionally, a property owner can also apply to put a restriction on the title which prevents the Land Registry from registering a sale or mortgage on the property unless they are satisfied with your involvement. This means that whenever a document is submitted to the Land Registry for registration, a solicitor or conveyancer will have to provide a certificate to the Land Registry confirming that the person who has signed the relevant document is indeed the lawful owner of the property.

This can be done by completing a RQ form and emailing this to the Land Registry. Applying the restriction is free of charge but the RQ restriction can only be applied for if you are an individual and do not reside at the property. Alternatively, a restriction can be added by your solicitor or conveyancer using form RX1.

Due to the nature of the restriction, and the certificate the conveyancer will be asked to provide to the Land Registry, when you come to sell or mortgage the property you may well be asked to satisfy your solicitor or conveyancer that you (as the legal owner of the property) have signed any relevant legal document. This may well involve a personal attendance at your solicitor’s or conveyancer’s office or, in order to evidence the signature on the legal document is yours. This may come at an additional legal cost for the conveyancer to provide this certificate, and not all conveyancers may be prepared to provide this.

Which option should you choose?

Both of these options aim to reduce fraudulent transactions by someone purporting to be the owner of the property. Property alerts are a more informal route, and provide greater flexibility for those who want to be kept up to date with title notifications.

However, a restriction is arguably a more secure option. Your solicitor or conveyancer is required to conduct relevant identity checks as part of a transaction in any event, and the restriction creates an additional layer of protection, by ensuring they provide a certificate to this effect. Whilst this would add a level of comfort for the proprietor, it can create an additional hoop to jump through for any dispositions to the property, including remortgages and transfers.

It is entirely up to you as to whether you proceed with either of these options.

If this is something you are interested in, please do not hesitate to contact Katie Wiesendanger at katie.wiesendanger@fsp-law.com or contact our Residential Conveyancing Team.