Are you a residential landlord or the owner of a second home?

So what is the problem? Fraud, to be precise. For all its advantages, the registration of land has its weaknesses and one of them is to enable fraudsters to obtain details of the ownership of property, because those details are open to the public. Fraudsters simply have to pass themselves off as the owner of the property in order to sell it or obtain mortgage funds by using it as security. Perhaps this is not that easy when you are living there, but if you are not, because you let it, or only use it occasionally, then a little extra protection might make a lot of sense.

The Land Registry are currently (February 2012) offering to note a Restriction on the title of such a property without their usual fee of £50. This Restriction prevents any disposition (transfer or charge) of the property from being registered without a conveyancer's certificate. This certificate must confirm that the conveyancer is satisfied that the person who signed the document submitted for registration is the same person as the owner.

Perhaps the best practical advantage of such a note on the title is to put any potential buyer or lender on their guard that they need to be sure of the person they are dealing with.