Land Registry fraud

Land Registry has started a "Protect your Property" campaign in an effort to reduce property fraud, and to encourage property owners to keep their addresses for service up-to-date on the register. The Land Registry has published a leaflet - click on: Help protect your property – keep your contact details up to date. There are obvious reasons for keeping your address for service up-to-date. Where a notice is required to be served by the Land Registry on the registered proprietor, it will be served at his/her address(es) for service. For example, if anyone attempts to acquire registered land through an adverse possession claim on Form ADV1 notice of the application is served upon the registered proprietor who then has the opportunity to oppose.

Interestingly, as regards fraud, the following appears in the FAQ section of the Land Registry website:

Q. Why can't you bring back land and charge certificates? These helped to prevent fraud.

A. The fact that someone held a land or charge certificate was not proof that they were the owner on the register. There were instances of fraud even when we had land and charge certificates.