Details temporarily removed, to be added later.
Posts Tagged ‘land registry’
Property fraud, part 3 – Updating Land Registry
February 4th, 2010Property Fraud, Part 2 – Conveyancing
January 25th, 2010Details have been removed but will be added back later once full report received
Property Buyers Beware
September 24th, 2009With the increase in identity fraud some property buyers run the risk of being scammed by bogus sellers, effectively people who have “assumed” the identity of the real property owner. In the majority of cases a diligent solicitor will prevent such fraud, but it is still wise to take precautions and to be aware of the resolutions should this happen to you.
So how does someone sell a property they do not own?
Firstly they will tempt the property buyer with an amazing offer, perhaps a discount of 10%, 20%, sometimes more, below the current property valuation. As mortgage companies will often carry out further checks to prevent fraud the bogus vendor will probably insist on cash payment. The bogus vendor will also use a small solicitors firm that may not be highly experienced in conveyancing, in the hope that some checks may not be so thorough.
The vendor solicitor is responsible for verifying the vendor’s identity, and also verifying the vendor’s title to the property ensuring they have full rights to sell a property. If the vendor solicitor provides this acceptance, the sale can then proceed.
On completion of the sale the vendor solicitor will transfer funds to the buyer’s solicitors, and then update land registry to change the legal title of the property to reflect the new owner. All of this relies on the vendor solicitor checking thoroughly to establish the title of the property and the vendor’s identity.
So what happens if the property buyer has been scammed?
This is where it gets interesting. If the vendor solicitor has not updated land registry at the time the fraud is uncovered then the true owner can normally regain their property, leaving the buyer recourse to claim costs back from the vendor solicitor (who will be insured against such errors).
But, if the land registry has been updated then it becomes much more difficult for the original owner to regain the property, thus the property buyer would normally retain their property. The original owner then has to seek compensation for their losses; this will be either from the land registry (if they were found to have made errors), or from the solicitor acting on behalf of the bogus vendor.
House buying costs increase
July 8th, 2009The UK Land Registry has announced a 500% increase in the cost of updating the land register with new owner details. It used to cost £10 for the cheapest properties, now it will cost from £50 for the cheapest property to £920 for the most expensive properties.
How does this affect us? Whenever anyone buys or sells a house or piece of land the ‘land register’ is updated with the new details. Also when a new mortgage or secured loan is taken against a property the ‘land register’ details are updated to record this. Every update to the land register incurs a charge.
Land Registry justification for the increase is that they have not increased costs since 1993, a reasonable argument, but why increase costs whilst we are all in the midst of a recession and a housing market slump? They also state that their “income” from fees has fallen heavily due to the lower number of property sales which are currently 44% of the levels they were 2 years ago. Does this mean that when property transaction increase and they start making huge profits they will consider cutting their fees? I doubt it.
Whatever the Land Registry’s justification it does not seem very good timing to increase the cost of buying a home, but as they are a monopoly it seems then they can charge what they like, we have no choice but to pay up.
