Free Land Registry Property Alert Service - protect your house from property fraud

Doc_N

This newish Land Registry service allows you to monitor up to ten properties. Once you have signed up to the service, you will receive email alerts when certain activity occurs on your monitored properties.

See link below.

What is property fraud?

Property fraud can happen in many ways. For example, fraudsters may steal someone’s identity and attempt to acquire ownership of a property by using forged documents. The fraudsters may then raise money by mortgaging the property without the owner’s knowledge before disappearing with the money, leaving the owner to deal with the consequences.

Land Registry has stopped fraud on properties worth more than £66 million in the last five years. In a recent case, two fraudsters managed to pocket £50k by selling an empty home they didn’t own. Staff at Land Registry spotted the fraud before it was registered but the fraudsters got away with the money and are still wanted by police.

How Property Alert works

you will need to set up an online account with Land Registry which is free
you will be able to monitor up to ten properties
email alerts will be sent when Land Registry receives an application to change the register as well as for official searches (which can be sent to us up to 30 working days before the application is sent and ‘freeze’ the register until the application is received). You can then judge whether or not the activity is suspicious and if you should seek further advice
For example, if you receive an alert that a bank has lodged a search on your property but you haven’t applied for a mortgage, you may want to seek legal advice, contact Action Fraud, or contact the bank in question to tell them you are the owner and have not applied for a mortgage. Investigations into the authenticity of the mortgage application can then begin much earlier in the process.


https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/

EIGHTOF8

Something ain't right about this. I registered and confirmed the email. But since doing that, can't even access the website. Anyone else?

Land_Registry

EIGHTOF8 - the service is currently down so hopefully we can restore it shortly. Sorry for any inconvenience

Jennifer_Jane

I did it, after checking out if it was genuine, on 24th and it was fine, and easy to do. You register, and then choose what properties you want on the list. Seems like a good thing to do.

Pomdren

Looks to be working again now.

I put a property on and.. that's it. Now I hope I never hear from the site again, I suppose!

Land_Registry

Pomdren wrote: »

Looks to be working again now.

I put a property on and.. that's it. Now I hope I never hear from the site again, I suppose!

That is the hope of course unless of course it is you selling, mortgaging or leasing the property for example

Zanderman

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

That is the hope of course unless of course it is you selling, mortgaging or leasing the property for example

Rather alarmingly, when I entered my property in the search it came up with 2 apparently identical matches saying 'there are 2 properties that match your search'.

But there is only one. Unless LR are also monitoring an alternative parallel universe.

If the LR rep can offer an explanation I'd appreciate it. In the meantime I'm monitoring 'both' my house(s).

Land_Registry

Zanderman - not come across this before but there should be an explanation other than the parallel universe one.

Zanderman

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

Zanderman - not come across this before but there should be an explanation other than the parallel universe one.
Can you drop me an email at customer.service@landregistery.gsi.gov.uk and I'll take a look and see what details we have re the address.
I'll edit out the email address once received or no further posting

Will do. Thanks for your help.

PS you mistyped your email address! There's only one e in registry.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Good spot Doc N and thanks to the Land registry for helping out on the thread.

If it's in any use, I've set it up and my home is also in a parallel universe

Perhaps we could find the common denominator.. mine was a new build. How about yours Zanderman?

torbrex

I registered but my own address has come back as an invalid postcode
Does this mean it does not recognise Scotland?

I will try again later.