Free fraud service for UK homeowners living in France
Owners are encouraged to sign up for a free monitoring service from HM Land Registry to reduce risk
Second-home owners and landlords are particularly vulnerable
William Barton/Shutterstock
People living in France who still own property in England and Wales are encouraged to sign up for a free monitoring service from HM Land Registry to reduce the risk of fraud.
Property fraud can take various forms, including criminals stealing a homeowner's identity to make fraudulent applications to register a change of ownership or take out a mortgage, or bogus landlords renting properties they do not own.
People who do not live in their property, such as second-home owners and landlords, are particularly vulnerable.
“Although relatively uncommon, attempts to defraud people of their property are a serious issue,” said Chloe Evans, deputy head of counter fraud at HM Land Registry.
“They can affect homeowners, sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants, conveyancers, solicitors and others.”
From April 2023 to March 2024, HM Land Registry stopped 97 registered title fraud attempts on properties valued at a total of £58million.
“Typical property frauds include criminals impersonating a homeowner and then trying to sell or mortgage the property,” said Ms Evans. “If this is not quickly spotted the genuine owner could find their home has been sold or transferred without them knowing.
“One case involved an owner coming home after a spell away to find strangers in his home, all his possessions gone and renovations under way.”
HM Land Registry’s service, called Property Alert, sends an email to homeowners each time there is significant activity on the property being monitored, such as attempts to transfer ownership.
The alert will detail the type of activity, who the applicant is and the date and time it was received. A contact is included in the email for owners to reply if they suspect fraud.
Ms Evans gives an example of a case in 2023, where an attempt was made to transfer the ownership of a bungalow for £360,000, which was considerably below the price for similar bungalows in the area.
When the owners were alerted, they visited the property and found the locks had been changed and ‘For Sale’ signs displayed on the house. HM Land Registry cancelled the application to transfer ownership.
You can sign up for Property Alert here. You will need a valid email address and the postcode or title number of the property(ies) you wish to monitor. The system lets you monitor up to 10 properties, including those of relatives.
