Land Registry Fraud A Concern In GB; £36M In Payouts For Errors, Deed Thefts Since '05

In London, England, the BBC reports:

• A major reform of property registration in England and Wales is needed to prevent "an exponential rise in fraud", a building society boss has said. Nationwide executive director Matthew Wyles said: "The system is too open and needs a root and branch review." Mr Wyles was responding to a BBC investigation which applied to change details of house ownership, without being asked for proof of identity.

***

• Last November Land Registry introduced new identity checks to be carried out on everyone involved in buying or selling property, but not for changes of correspondence address on the register. The body has paid out £36m in compensation for mistakes and fraud since 2005.

• Organised criminals have increasingly used Land Registry to help them transfer the ownership of a house fraudulently, to sell it or take out a huge mortgage on the property. [...] Julie Jenkins, head of fraud at Land Registry, told the BBC: "We need to ensure there's a balance between protecting the individual and protecting the property and that's what we're here to do, protect people's assets - one of the most important assets they've got."

For more, see Land register 'too open to fraud' (A major reform of property registration in England and Wales is needed to prevent "an exponential rise in fraud", a building society boss has said). DeedZetaTheft