If you own a property it could be a target for fraudsters, particularly if you don’t live there.  HM Land Registry provides important information on how you can protect your property. This includes ensuring that your property is registered with Land Registry and your contact details are up to date.

If your local authority receives a complaint about your rented property they will refer to Land Registry to identify your contact details. If your details are out of date, you may not be aware that a report has been made and the local authority housing enforcement team is trying to contact you. To update your details with HM Land Registry see www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry

Criminals can also target properties for fraud. By pretending to be the owners they can try to sell or mortgage a property. A property is more at risk if it is rented out, empty, mortgage free or isn’t registered with HM Land Registry.

Owners can also sign up for a free Property Alert service with the Land Registry who will notify you of certain applications such as new mortgages or change of owner. You can monitor up to 10 registered properties in England and Wales.  To register for the free Property Alert, visit www.gov.uk/protect-land-property-from-fraud

Empty properties can also be targeted in other ways. A London estate agent recently warned of the rise of brazen fraudsters who effectively steal empty properties, by breaking into them and then letting them out. Sometimes ‘tenants’ move in but on other occasions several would-be tenants apply for the same properties and hand over deposits – money which they never see again.

The agent has warned others to be aware of the increasingly prevalent problem – and told how one fraudster even stole his identity to pretend to be an agent.

John Williams, an associate director at Outlook Property in London, was a witness for the prosecution in a recent case. Zhaker Darvesh was jailed after advertising different flats on Gumtree and taking deposits from six victims. Darvesh had worked briefly for Outlook Property as a sales negotiator and one of the properties involved in the court case was being marketed for sale with the agency. It appears he used the keys held by his employer to access a property and then rent it out.

In another incident a scammer actually pretended to be Williams himself, offering the same property to rent to four different people who each paid around £1,000 in deposits. The conman also used a corporate-style email address in his name and imported the company logo and branding to make it look authentic. All text messages and phone calls also purported to come from John Williams.

Owners of empty properties should protect themselves by making regular visits to the property, considering using automatic timers to switch lights on and off, and making every attempt to bring the property back into use as soon as possible.