What is the Property Alert Service?
Like millions of people across the UK, your property is probably the most valuable investment in your life. It is vital to ensure you protect it from risk of property fraud.
The Land Registry have brought a free Property Alert Service to help protect your property from fraud by monitoring whether a property could be at risk of fraud.
With the alert service you can:
• monitor a property if it’s already registered with HM Land Registry
• monitor the property of a relative; you don’t have to own a property to set up an alert
• choose up to 10 properties to monitor
If you sign up to the service, you will receive e-mail alerts if certain activity occurs on the property, so you can take action if needed.
What is Property Fraud?
Property fraud is a term which generally covers a wide range of criminal activity related to scams that occur during property transactions.
There are many different types of property fraud, varying from someone intercepting monetary transactions; to someone using the property transaction as a way to steal your personal information; to the illegal transfer of property ownership; to someone pretending to be a conveyancer.
Since September 2009, the Land Registry has prevented over 400 fraudulent applications being registered, representing properties valued in excess of £207 million.
Who is more at risk of Property Fraud?
Property fraud can happen to anyone however, some people are more vulnerable to the risk than others.
• Owners that live overseas
• Elderly owners
• Mortgage-free properties
• Empty properties
• Tenanted properties
• Properties undergoing redevelopment
• Unregistered properties
How do I sign up to the Property Alert Service?
To create your Property Alert account, you can follow the below link.
HM Land Registry – Property Alert
You will need a valid email address and the postcode or the title number for the property(ies) you intend to monitor.
You will initially receive a verification email from the Land Registry, and you will need to follow the instructions on the email to activate your account.
Once your account is verified, you will need to sign in and add the property(ies) you want to monitor. This is where you will need to input the postcode/title number mentioned above.
If your contact details change at any point, you must ensure that you update the Land Registry so that they can still contact you if any suspicious activity occurs.
When might I receive an alert?
The Land Registry will send an email alert any time there is significant activity you are monitoring, for example if a new mortgage is taken out against it.
What will the alert tell you?
The alert will tell you what the type of activity is (such as an application to update the title register), who the applicant is and the date and time it has been received.
What do I do if I receive an alert?
Not all alerts will mean fraudulent activity. If you don’t think the alert email is about any suspicious activity, then you don’t need to do anything.
The alert service will not automatically stop fraud from happening, so you need to ensure you quickly decide if the activity is potentially fraudulent and act quickly.
If you think you have been a victim of property fraud, you should contact the property fraud line on 0300 006 7030 (Monday to Friday 9:30am to 5pm) or email reportafraud@landregistry.gov.uk
To contact the Property Alert team email propertyalert@landregistry.gov.uk or call 0300 006 0478 (Monday to Friday 9:00am to 5pm).
