Stop your home being stolen!
What? Yes, people do steal houses and sell them to unsuspecting buyers who may or may not get compensation if they are eventually turfed out by the REAL owners. Clearly, after lots of hassles, stress and legal expenses on both sides. More below. I can’t find any national statistics, but I am told in one year alone, the Met were investigating 21 stolen homes.
Contents (click)
How to stop your home from being mortgaged by fraudsters.
Imagine your horror if you decide to sell your mortgage-free home, perhaps to move to a bungalow, flat or sheltered accommodation, and you discover it has a large mortgage on it which you know nothing about. More below.
You’re more at risk of having your property stolen or remortgaged if:
- You are not really clued up when it comes to legal matters or
- your identity’s been stolen or
- you rent out your property or
- you live overseas or
- the property’s empty or
- the property is not mortgaged or has a small mortgage or
- the property is not registered with HM Land Registry.
Some examples of homes being stolen:
Luton Vicar finds locks changed and new “owner” in possession.
Buyer saved from buying stolen house in Cambridge – just!
Some of you may remember Max Hastings whose £1.3m house was stolen.
Again, if this is to be resolved, it is not going to be easy.
This is not an area we operate in – Wills, Powers of Attorney, Trusts and Probate Savings, but I hope it helps.
– more below.
Precautions to prevent your home from being stolen or mortgaged.
- The easiest and free option is to register your property with the Land Registry Property Alert Service.
This will email you and, optionally, other family members if any changes are applied for to the Land Registry. But that only works if your property is registered, and some properties which haven’t been sold or mortgaged after 1998 may not be. How to check.
- Ensure the Title Deed has your correct contact details on it – this can be a problem if it is not your main home. There is a modest fee for downloading it. But do ensure you go to the www.gov.uk site using the link above and not someone who is going to charge you for their time in doing a simple job. If you are not used to the internet, ask a friend or family member to do it.
- In the unlikely event the property is not registered, registration is a fair bit of work, but it will have to be done if the property is ever to be sold or mortgaged. However, finding the deeds is not easy if you bought it 30 years ago and the solicitor kept them. Some suggestions below.
- Add a restriction to the Title Deed despite their rather odd charging policy – see links in each section.
If you live at the property
Fill in an application for a restriction. It costs £40.
If you do not live at the property
Fill in a request for a restriction for owners not living at the property if you own the property privately – there’s no fee.
How to stop your commercial property being stolen
Fill in a request for a restriction if you’re a company owning property.
Contact the HM Land Registry:
You can call the property fraud line on 0300 006 7030, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. You can also email
re**********@la**********.uk
.
Set Up A Free Property Alert
Just fill in the form, and don’t forget to add one or two friends or family members.
Where are the deeds of an unregistered property?
Chances are they are either with you or the solicitor etc you used to buy or mortgage the property.
If you know the name, Google it.
Closed solicitor? Try this link. Search for a solicitor. Contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority
