Land Registry warning!
Tuesday, 14th February 2012
Article from The Law Society Gazette 2 February 2012 by Catherine Baksi.
Property owners are being encouraged to register a restriction requiring a solicitor to certify their identity as homeowner before their property can be sold, in the Land Registry's latest move against property fraud.
From this month (February 2012) the Registry's Form LL restriction will be free for absent property owners. The restriction requires a solicitor or conveyancer to certify they are satisfied that the person selling or mortgaging the property is the true owner. The £50 fee for owner-occupiers to register the restriction will remain.
Empty properties, where the owner is abroad or in a care home, are among the most vulnerable to fraud, according to the Registry, which pays compensation to genuine owners in cases where a registered title has been fraudulently transferred. In 2010, 23 of the 71 claims it paid out for fraud and forgery involved properties with an absent owner, accounting for £2m of £7.3m paid in total.
Duncan Morter, Head of Property at Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors can be contacted for advice if you or your clients own buy to let property.
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