Property title fraud: who to contact and how to protect a home

Property title fraud is when a fraudster pretends to be you and either sells or mortgages your property without your knowledge, most commonly to take the legal title for themselves¹. It is a form of identity fraud, and it is a crime². The fraudster steals the homeowner's identity, then transfers the title of the property into their own name illegally³.

The reason it works is that a property transaction turns on documents and identity checks, not on the owner standing in the room. Scammers pose as genuine buyers to steal the personal details of the property owner, and those details are then enough to move a title³. Conveyancing scams, where criminals pose as solicitors to trick homebuyers into sending deposit or purchase money to their accounts, are a related problem and could cost you thousands and may even cause your home purchase to collapse⁴.

Fraud of this kind sits inside a much larger picture. You are more likely to fall victim to fraud or cyber offences than to any other crime⁵, and the priority frauds affecting the UK are investment fraud, romance fraud, courier fraud and payment division fraud⁶. Most victims report what happened to their bank or account provider rather than to the national reporting service Action Fraud or the police⁷, which is one reason the true scale of property title fraud is hard to see.

Property fraud: fraudsters pose as you to sell or mortgage your home

The mechanics are simple to describe and hard to spot. Identity fraud or theft is when somebody steals your personal details and pretends to be you¹¹. In the property version, the fraudster uses those details to sell the home or to borrow against it, and the owner may not find out until a buyer, a lender or a court gets in touch.

Several tactics feed into it. Invoice and mandate fraud happens when criminals pose as your builder, solicitor, tradesperson or someone from a trusted organisation and give you new or amended bank account details¹². Courier fraud involves criminals contacting you unexpectedly, often pretending to be from your bank, card provider, the police or a fraud team¹³. Scammers can mimic an official telephone number, which can trick you into thinking the caller is from a legitimate organisation such as a bank or utility company¹⁴. Each of these is a way of harvesting the personal details that a title fraud needs.

There is also a domestic route. A person may fraudulently apply to be added to your mortgage or the title deed, which is a pattern seen in economic abuse¹¹. That is why the identity of everyone with an interest in the home matters, not just the registered owner.

Homes most at risk of title fraud

The clearest risk factor is that the owner is not living in the property. Empty homes, second homes and rented-out homes are the ones where nobody notices post going astray or strangers calling. Letting out your property without permission is a breach of your mortgage terms and conditions and could affect your mortgage and insurance¹⁵, so landlords who let quietly are also the ones least likely to have their lender watching the property.

Equity release is another area to understand. With equity release, it is not so much lenders as borrowers who may be at risk of fraud¹⁶. Anyone who has released money from their home and no longer lives there should treat the title as something to check.

Guarantor arrangements carry their own exposure. A guarantor loan can put the guarantor's house at risk of repossession¹⁷, and a guarantor mortgage usually involves someone offering their home or savings as security against your mortgage and agreeing to cover the payments if you default¹⁸. In the worst case, if the lender had to repossess and sell the property for less than the amount remaining on the mortgage, that family member could stand to lose their home¹⁸. None of this is title fraud, but it means more people have a stake in a title than the name on the deed suggests.

Fraud on loan accounts is not a small problem. Cifas recorded a 55% annual increase in fraud on loan accounts in 2013².

Warning signs that someone is using your property's title

Identity theft rarely announces itself. The signs are administrative and easy to dismiss. You apply for state benefits but are told you are already claiming¹⁹. Unusual payments or direct debits appear on your bank statements, important mail goes missing, recycling bins and rubbish bags are tampered with, bills arrive for things you have not bought, or new credit cards appear on your credit record¹⁹.

If there has been any fraud against you, for example if someone has used your identity, there may be a marker against your name, and you will be able to see this on your credit file²⁰. That marker is worth checking for, because it is often the first visible trace.

Post is a useful signal in itself. Scam post tends to show bad spelling, a prize that is too good to be true, a general address such as a PO Box, a request to send money to claim a prize, and watermarks such as win, barcodes, seals or codes²¹. None of that is title fraud on its own, but a run of it arriving at a property you own and do not live in is worth acting on.

Protecting a home against title fraud

The single most useful step is to put a flag on your identity. Contact Cifas, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, to apply for protective registration²³. Protective registration places a warning flag against your name and other personal details on their National Fraud Database²⁴. The same service is described by the Information Commissioner's Office as the route to take after identity theft²⁵, and it is also the answer when fraudsters pretend to be you⁸.

There is a second, address-based option. For a fee, a fraud warning can be placed against your address and will be flagged up if someone applies using your address²⁶. That is a different product from protective registration and is aimed at the property rather than the person.

If you are married to or in a civil partnership with the owner of the home, you can prevent a sale or remortgage by registering home rights via a notice at the Land Registry or a land charge on the Land Charges Register²⁷. This matters where the non-owning partner would otherwise have no say.

Keep your paperwork in order as well. Keep receipts for anything of significant value, as this will act as a valuation and also as proof of purchase, along with photographs, serial or model numbers, a note of item ages, insurance documents in a safe place, and your broker or insurer's contact details to hand²⁸.

Who to contact if you suspect property fraud

Report it, and report it to the right place. You can contact Report Fraud about fraud in England, Wales or Northern Ireland; if you live in Scotland or the fraud happened there, contact Police Scotland on 101⁹. Report Fraud can be reached on 0300 123 2040¹⁰, and the same number is given for reporting a scam or getting more advice on scams and fraud²⁹.

For the police themselves, report the fraudulent activity by calling 101, or 999 if you feel threatened or unsafe²⁶. If you suspect you might already have been targeted by fraudsters, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040³⁰.

Phishing is worth separating out. Forward the email to report@phishing.gov.uk, which the National Cyber Security Centre will investigate, and report it to Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040³¹.

If the problem is a data breach rather than a completed fraud, the Information Commissioner's Office sets out the steps to take if you have been affected by a personal data breach³², and the same guidance applies if you have experienced a data breach²³.

Can someone sell my house without me knowing?

It is possible, because a sale turns on identity and paperwork rather than on your presence. The fraudster steals the homeowner's identity and then transfers the title of the property to their name illegally³. Scammers pose as genuine buyers to steal the personal details of the property owner in the first place³.

There are legitimate routes by which a home can be sold without the owner living in it, which is why the paperwork matters. Under the First Homes scheme, you can ask your local council for permission to sell your property at the full market price to any buyer if you have tried unsuccessfully to sell your property as a First Home for 6 months or more, or if selling it as a First Home will cause you severe difficulties, such as bankruptcy³³. If you have negative equity, you may need your lender's agreement to sell³⁴.

Selling something you do not own outright is treated seriously elsewhere in the law, which shows how the principle works. It is a criminal offence to sell an item that has a bill of sale agreement attached to it without the lender's permission³⁵, and selling a leased or rented item would be a criminal offence³⁶.

How would I find out if my property had been mortgaged without my consent?

You can find out when the mortgage was taken out by asking the lender or finding out from the Registers of Scotland, and the date of the mortgage will also be written in the court summons³⁷. In Scotland, that is the register to check; elsewhere, the lender is the direct route.

The wider signs are the identity theft signs: benefits refused because someone is already claiming, unusual payments or direct debits, missing post, tampered bins, bills for things you did not buy, and new credit cards on your credit record¹⁹. A fraud marker on your credit file is another trace²⁰.

If a mortgage was arranged in your name, it is worth knowing what mis-selling looks like in this area, because the two can be confused. A mortgage may have been mis-sold if you were advised to borrow money without proving your income, also called self-certifying, or asked to overstate your income in order to borrow more³⁸. That is a complaint about advice, not a fraud, and it goes down a different route.

Does a mortgage on my home protect it from title fraud?

No. A mortgage is a loan secured on the property, and it does not stop someone else claiming the title. It is worth being clear about which protections point where.

Mortgage indemnity insurance protects the lender, not you³⁹. It protects them against loss if you borrow a high proportion of your property's value and cannot repay the mortgage⁴⁰. A guarantor mortgage is a different arrangement again: it usually involves someone offering their home or savings as security against your mortgage and agreeing to cover the payments if you default¹⁸. Where savings are used, the money is held as security for your mortgage for a set number of years, or until the amount you owe falls below a certain percentage, such as 80%, of the property's value¹⁸.

None of these is a defence against a fraudster. The protections that do bear on fraud are the identity flag, the address warning, home rights registration and prompt reporting.

Can I get my property back if it has been sold fraudulently?

There is a route, and it runs through the court. The court may agree to allow you to return if you can show that the possession order was obtained through fraud, or that the correct legal process was not followed, or possibly if you can raise the money to pay off the mortgage debt soon after eviction by applying for an injunction to stop the sale⁴¹. Those are the grounds as set out in independent housing guidance, and they turn on evidence and speed.

That is why the paperwork matters so much. Receipts, photographs, serial numbers, insurance documents kept safely, and up-to-date cover with your insurer's contact details to hand all help when a claim or a dispute has to be proved²⁸.

Get advice early rather than late. Free, impartial help is available from Citizens Advice, from Shelter and Shelter Cymru on housing matters, and from MoneyHelper on money questions. If a financial firm has treated you badly, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about fraud and scams involving unauthorised payments and identity theft⁴².