Protecting your Basingstoke property from fraud

There have been a number of stories recently about fraudsters posing as legitimate property owners and then selling or renting the property without the owners’ knowledge, until it’s too late of course.

 

Whilst it may seem like a rare and unlikely event to most of us, if your property is empty or if you rent a property, there is a much higher likelihood that this may happen. As many estate agents’ will tell you, it is surprisingly easy in today’s online world, to find out a lot of information about a property and its owner(s) through easily accessible public information.

 

How can it happen?

Firstly, the fraudster identifies a property that may either be empty, or available to rent. This is simple to do using websites such as Gumtree or property websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla.

 

They can then either pose as the landlord, the owner of the property or even rent the property as a legitimate tenant. The lengths that people are willing to go to vary in their complexity from simply taking multiple rents and deposits from multiple prospective tenants and then disappearing, to selling an entire property.

 
A recent article in the Daily Mail illustrates a more ambitious example of this type of Fraud.
 

In this case, one of the fraudsters changed their name by deed poll to match that of the legitimate property owner, obtained a fake passport and resident permit in this name to convince both the estate agent and a solicitor that they were the owner of the property, took out a loan of £1.2m against the property and then sold the property in Knightsbridge for £3m! They gained access to the property by taking out a tenancy to rent the property, and thereby provide access for the purposes of the sale. The owner of the property who did not live in London was unaware of any of this until after the property had been sold.

 

Some of the more common examples which can result in a significant loss to the owner or landlord are:
 

·         Tenants that rent a property, and then sublet the property to another tenant.

·         People that pose as the landlord of a property, advertise the property on a website such as Gumtree, and then take a deposit and first months’ rent from multiple potential tenants and then disappear.

·         The fraudsters do not always need to have access to the property either! They often offer properties at an “unbelievable price”, but do not allow viewings due to “works” being carried out. These can often include highly believable excuses such as viewings not being possible because asbestos is being removed from the property, or the landlord is not currently in the country, but you can still secure the property by paying a deposit.

 

How can I protect myself and my property?

As the owner or landlord of a property, there are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself and your property:

 

·         Firstly, if you purchased or mortgaged your property after 1998, it will be registered with the Land Registry. If purchased before then, make sure that it has been registered. Your solicitor can help you with this.

·         If your property is registered, make sure that your contact details are correct. If it is a rental property make sure your contact details are your “Current Address”. You should keep this information updated if you move house.

·         It is easy for a fraudster to change the registry details if the confirmation is sent to a property in question (rather than where you live), especially in a Rental property.

·         The land registry also allows you to sign up to alerts for your property. This will inform you if someone changes the register, or takes a charge (such as a loan or mortgage) against the property. This will not however, prevent changes to the register.

·         You can also put a restriction on the register which will prevent the sale of the property or adding a charge to the register unless the solicitor can certify that the request was made by you. This does again rely on you keeping your contact details updated.

 

You can find out more from the Land Registry by clicking here.

 

·        Your estate agent should also be carrying out proper checks before selling or renting a property. As a matter of course, this should include Land Registry checks to identify the legitimate owner or landlord of a property, as well as taking proof of ID and address for the owner.

·         Similar checks, as well as full credit references are also taken for prospective tenants.

 

Comment

In Basingstoke, these types of fraud are thankfully rare, but this is not to say they do not, or may not happen. Recent examples that we have dealt with in this office include:

 

·         In a recent case, we were asked to market a property for sale by a lady who was in the process of getting divorced. She informed us that no further permissions were required to sell the property. When we carried out a Land Registry check, the property was in joint names. When we contacted the ex-Husband to gain his permission to sell as well, we received a solicitor’s letter informing us that we were not permitted to sell the property.

·         A tenant who provided proof of ID (passport) and proof of address (driving licence) which had different dates of birth. When we asked for a copy of their birth certificate, they became very defensive and said this was “packed” and could not be accessed. The tenants job was a solicitor, so if this was genuine, would have known better and corrected the mistake (if it was one). Needless to say, we did not progress the tenancy and reported the issue to the Home Office.

·         A further example was a lady who was looking to rent a property. As part of our usual “Right to Rent” checks, she claimed her passport was with the Home office to have the visa renewed and provided other forms of ID. We contacted the Home Office with the information provided, and were informed that under no circumstances was she to be rented to property, as she did not have permission to remain in the country.