Help protect your home from fraud – sign up for free property alerts

Every so often a case of property fraud will hit the headlines, causing many homeowners to worry about whether they could be next. Whilst very rare, the threat of property fraud is understandably extremely concerning. But you can take some simple steps to help prevent it happening to you.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) is the government body responsible for maintaining the register of land and property in England and Wales.

From April 2024 to March 25, HM Land Registry stopped more than £59 million worth of fraudulent property applications, and our free Property Alert service was the first step in identifying several of those cases.

Signing up to Property Alert can help safeguard against fraud, whether you’re the homeowner, the landlord, a relative of the proprietor or simply interested in a particular piece of land or property.

It’s a free service, that enables subscribers to monitor significant activity on a property, such as an application to change someone’s name in the Land Register or to take out a mortgage.

You can create alerts for up to ten properties and when there is such activity in relation to one of them, we’ll send you an email alert.

The alert will tell you the type of activity (such as an application to change the register or a notification that an application may be due), who the applicant is, and the date and time it has been received.

Every six months, you’ll receive an email confirming which properties you’re monitoring and whether any alerts have been generated against them.

Although property fraudsters are sometimes successful, Property Alert does mean we can often step in and stop them.

For example, we received an application to transfer ownership of a bungalow at a cost of £360,000 – significantly below the average for the area. The owners had signed up to our free Property Alert service meaning this application was flagged up to them.

They then contacted us and, on visiting the property, they discovered the locks had been changed and a For Sale sign erected.  At the owner’s request, we then cancelled the fraudulent application to transfer ownership.

As long as a property is registered, anyone can sign up for alerts about it.

For instance, you could set up an alert to monitor a mortgage-free property owned by an elderly or vulnerable relative, to give them peace of mind about their home while they’re away or in hospital.

Signing up is not only free – it’s easy! Simply create a Property Alert account, receive a verification email and add the properties you want to monitor (up to ten).

Find out more and how to sign up at Property Alert – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).