UK Land Registry Launches Fraud Alert For Expats

From April 2024 to March 2025, HM Land Registry stopped more than £59 million worth of fraudulent property applications. Signing up to Property Alert is one of the key ways people can help us safeguard their homes. Help protect your British property from fraud while long term abroad, with Property Alert

So you’re on your great working assignment, far from UK, whether short or long term.

Or maybe you’ve embraced the ‘expat’ lifestyle and settled indefinitely, either working or retired.

Either way, you’ve hung on to your property back home for whenever you want to come back for visits or if you decide to return full-time.

Maybe it’s in good hands, with reliable tenants, or your family and friends are keeping a neighbourly eye on it.

Whether your property is boosting your cash flow or represents an ever- growing investment, would you know how to prevent it being fraudulently sold or mortgaged while you’re far away?

People might have spotted that you’re away – perhaps they’ve been tipped off that the house is empty or you’re not the current residents.

And your friends’ and relatives’ properties might also be at greater risk if you can no longer keep a watchful eye on them.

Although relatively uncommon, attempts to defraud someone of their property are a serious issue, potentially affecting homeowners, sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants, conveyancers, solicitors and others.

They can deprive people of their homes and cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds, often before they discover there is even a problem – with added risk if you’re over the horizon and ‘off radar’.

Whilst we can’t eliminate fraud completely, between 2020 – 24 we prevented fraud worth over £135m on 220 properties.

Typical property frauds include criminals impersonating a homeowner and then trying to sell or mortgage the property while pretending to be the owner.

If this is not quickly spotted, the genuine owner could find their home has been sold or transferred almost without them knowing. Think how much easier that could be for the fraudster if you’re thousands of miles away.

One case involved an owner coming home after a spell away to find strangers in his home, all his possessions gone and renovations under way.

But although property fraudsters are sometimes successful, we can often step in and stop them – thanks to ‘Property Alert’.

For example, in 2023 we received an application to transfer ownership of a bungalow at a cost of £360,000 – significantly below the average price for the area. The owners had signed up to our free Property Alert service meaning this application was flagged up to them.

They then contacted us and, on visiting the property, discovered the locks had been changed and a For Sale sign erected without their knowledge.

At the owner’s request, we cancelled the application to transfer ownership.

Another time, we received an application to register a £200,000 mortgage on a terraced house, but the owner – who didn’t live at the property – said they had not made a mortgage application and did not plan to. We cancelled the application and again prevented a possible fraud.

So how can you help protect your property while overseas?

Follow these simple steps for greater peace of mind:

1. Ensure it is registered – that way, if you are an innocent victim of fraud and lose out financially, you may be compensated by HM Land Registry, even if you don’t get your property back. If you haven’t registered your property, compensation cannot be paid by HMLR.
2. Sign up for Property Alert: HMLR’s free property alert service – emails will be sent to you wherever you are in the world when there is certain activity on a property you are monitoring. There are currently nearly than 800,000 active accounts, including many account-holders based overseas – why not join them?
3. Keep your contact details up to date – so HMLR can reach you easily, in whichever country you call ‘home’. You can have up to three addresses on the register, including email and overseas addresses. We cannot send you emails or letters if we don’t have your correct contact details.
4. Apply for a Form LL restriction – although less common, you can enter a ‘form LL restriction’ in the register, which is free so long as you’re not living in the property.This can help prevent the type of fraud where a fraudster obtains identity documents in the registered property owner’s name, and then uses them to persuade a buyer or lender that they are the true owners. However, this restriction can be difficult to remove if you sell the property, so although it is added protection, it needs careful consideration and potentially professional advice.
5. Keep the Property fraud hotline number handy – you can report suspicions quickly and easily on our dedicated property fraud line (including in Welsh) on 0300 006 7030 ((Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm UK time).
6. Check out our top tips – see some helpful counter-fraud pointers here: 5 top tips to keep your property safe.
7. Contact Report Fraud – report suspicions and seek a wealth of advice and guidance at Action Fraud.

By Chloe Evans, HM Land Registry