Rosalind Russell gets to grips with identity theft
The slowdown in the property market doesn't seem to have diminished our enthusiasm for buy-to-let. But novice landlords are being advised that there is a worse hell than your tenant doing a runner, leaving behind unpaid bills and trashed furniture.
The tenant with fake references who assumes the landlord's identity for the purposes of fraud is a much greater danger.
The rise in identity theft has exposed landlords and owners of empty property to potentially large losses. Sales and letting agents are being warned about criminals taking over a tenancy, or breaking into an empty property, and then using the owner's details to apply for a mortgage loan.
They pocket the cash and disappear.
"We are warning all our landlords and vendors to protect themselves against ID fraud," says Rob Tancred, Director of Kent estate agency Capital Bromley.
"It is vital, when people are having their mail redirected, that they also write to every single person who might send them a letter - even a mail order company they have a zero balance with.
"If not, you are exposing yourself to fraud… from someone ordering clothes from a catalogue to applying for a loan. If you do not have a mortgage on your property it is easy for a conman to obtain the title deeds via the Land Registry, and take one out in your name."
The Land Registry has moved to close loopholes, recently publishing a new set of public guidelines and offering a registration service costing from £30 to £525, depending on the value of the property.
If you feel particularly vulnerable, you can also apply to have an entry of restriction on the title, which will limit the power of anyone trying to deal with or dispose of your land.
If you think it could never happen to you, consider the conman who copied his landlord's signature to apply for a Power of Attorney, then applied for and got a £150,000 mortgage before he disappeared. Or the one who netted £200,000 applying for phoney mortgages on empty properties around the UK.
The Association of Residential Letting Agents operations manager, Ian Potter, said: "The biggest move the Land Registry has made is to remove the ability for someone to see an owner's signature allowing transfer of title online and copy it. Perhaps this can stop the problem from escalating."
• For Land Registry guidelines, visit www.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/public_guide_017.pdf
