property fraud
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Latest property news
Buyers should be forced to take out property fraud insurance, says lawyer involved in landmark case
As the conveyancing industry prepares to hear the outcome of the appeal in a landmark property fraud liability case, the legal firm representing one of the vendors in involved has called for all property buyers to be forced to take out fraud insurance. “I do think [it] would be sensible to look at the possibility of making it compulsory for buyers to take out fraud insurance on every transaction,” says Steven Porter, Partner at JPC Law (pictured, below). “The cost, as matters stand, is relatively small and with compulsory insurance the premiums may even become cheaper due to the economy of scale.” The appeal concerns two key test cases. Conveyancing solicitors Mishcon De Reya and Owen White & Catlin were sued by their buyer clients after fake vendors fraudulently sold properties and received the funds before the problem was spotted. Mishcon De Reya and Owen White & Catline lost the initial property fraud case and went to appeal, which was heard last week. A decision is expected any day. Steven says that if the two buyers involved in the appeal – Dreamvar and his client P&P Properties – had taken out fraud insurance “it would have meant that both would…
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Guest Blogs
Protecting against property fraud using proptech solutions
Could the rise of PropTech protect homebuyers against property fraud? Owen Derbyshire reveals the scams and some ways of combatting thieves.
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Latest property news
Leading solicitor warns of property fraud epidemic
One of London’s leading mid-tier law firms Mackrell Turner Garrett is warning property investors to step up their efforts to protect themselves against fraud.
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Latest property news
Mother and daughter property fraud pair jailed
A mother and daughter team who helped a Dubai-based gang make a false £1.2 million application for a bridging loan by taking the identity of a deceased Kensington landlady have been jailed for property fraud. 31-year-old Laylah De Cruz (pictured) is to serve a five-year sentence and 62-year-old mother Dianne Moorcroft a three year term following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, during which the pair denied the fraud. The two were part of a gang, the rest of whom are still being sought, who identified a rental property belonging to a deceased landlady and then rented it using false papers. After this, with the help of her daughter, Moorcroft changed her name by Deed Poll to the landlady’s name. She later put the property on Eagle Place in Kensington on the market and, posing as the millionaire but actually deceased owner of the property, subsequently applied for a bridging loan of £1.2 million, which she was granted. The funds were then transferred to Dubai and have since not been traced. Moorcroft was arrested at her Blackpool home in February 2015 while De Cruz was arrested on her return from Dubai, where she lived as an expat, in May 2016. Suspicious…
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Latest property news
Court hears of model’s £1.2m property fraud case
The dangers of property fraud for home buyers, vendors, agents and conveyancers have been highlighted vividly by a case currently going through the courts in London. Model Laylah De Cruz (pictured) and her mother Dianne Moorcroft are standing trial after several professionals were duped into enabling the fraudulent application for a £1.2 million bridging loan on a four-bedroom terraced house on Eagle Place in Kensington, London (pictured). De Cruz denies persuading her mother to change her name by Deed Poll and, by later impersonating the real owner of the property, persuading both a local high-profile estate agent and a conveyancer that she had the right to sell the £3.15m property, and later gain a bridging loan for it. The money was transferred to a Dubai bank account and withdrawn as cash before suspicious Land Registry personnel could do anything to stop the fraud. Whatever the outcome of the trial, the legal and property industries face a huge problem when faced with persistent and sophisticated property fraud and identify theft attempts, as this case highlights. Julian Blake of law firm Wiseman Lee, which carries out conveyancing work and undertakes property fraud cases, says there is little either solicitors or agents can do…
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Features
House theft
No, not burglary – actually stealing a house! Property fraud is reality, but there are early-warning alarms available.
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