The number of homeowners signing up to HM Land Registry’s Property Alert Service to protect against illegal property transactions has jumped 30% this year as fraud concerns grow.

New figures obtained from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by risk management platform Thirdfort reveal some 178,086 property owners registered for the free HM Land Registry scheme in 2022, compared with 135,624 in 2020.

SIGNIFICANT

And 34,821 have signed up so far this year – a significant jump which suggests that homeowners remain increasingly concerned about the risk of fraud.

Olly Thornton-Berry, Co-founder and Managing Director of Thirdfort (main picture, right with fellow co-founder Jack Bidgood), says: “Property fraud is a major risk, particularly as fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated, and the economic climate remains challenging.

“There’s been an explosion in fake ID documents, and we’ve seen some high profile examples of fraudsters acquiring ownership of properties using forged documents to impersonate registered owners.”

Empty properties without a mortgage are particularly at risk.”

And he adds: “Empty properties, tenanted properties and those without a mortgage are particularly at risk.

“It’s crucial we use all of the tools available to prevent fraudulent sales and HM Land Registry’s Property Alert Service offers homeowners access to a simple and highly effective method of minimising the risk of title fraud.”

TITLE FRAUD

According to the FOI data, 618,185 people in total have now signed up for the free service since its launch in 2014.

With approximately 24.8 million homes in the UK, this could represent as little as 2.5% of property owners, despite significant risks of title fraud.

Thornton-Berry says: “When it comes to verifying buyers and sellers of property, cutting-edge technology such as AI, Open Banking andcryptographic and biometric verification also has a key role to play in protecting both homeowners and property professionals from identity fraud.”