Property Alert is HM Land Registry’s free service which notifies you via email alerts when certain activities occur on your monitored properties. This helps to reduce the risk of fraud and allow you to take action upon receiving notification of an activity. B P Collins’ property team advises on the service provided.
Features of the service
- You can monitor a property if it’s already registered with HM Land Registry.
- You can monitor the property of a relative, friend or any other person; you don’t have to own a property to set up an alert.
- You can choose up to 10 properties to monitor.
- The same property can be monitored by different people.
- Email alerts are sent when official searches and applications are received against a monitored property. The email will signpost who to contact.
- Please bear in mind that you should register for notifications from your Leasehold title for individual flats.
The sign-up process
- Create a Property Alert account HM Land Registry – Property Alert. For this you will need a valid email address and the postcode or title number of the property or properties you wish to monitor.
- You’ll be sent a verification email containing a link to activate your account.
- Sign into your account and add the property or properties you wish to monitor, for which you will need either the postcode or title number.
Alert information
You will receive an email alert when there is significant activity on a property you are monitoring, for example if a new mortgage is taken out against it.
The alert will tell you the type of activity which has occurred (such as an application to change the register or a notification that an application may be due), who the applicant is and the date and time it has been received.
Please bear in mind that not all alerts will be fraudulent activity and it is up to you to decide and act accordingly. This is a notification service only and any fraud prevention actions must be taken by you.
You can use the service if you are not online. Call the Property Alert team on 0300 006 0478.
Case Study example:
Mr Mills rented out his property in England while he lived overseas. He realised that absent landlords are more at risk of property fraud so he signed up to the Property Alert service.
Sometime later he received an alert email informing him that someone had made an application to register a mortgage on his property worth over £300,000. As Mr Mills wasn’t expecting this, he contacted the property fraud line. As a result of Mr Mills alerting them to the fact that the mortgage request was suspicious, they investigated and prevented the application from being registered once they realised it was fraudulent. As Mr Mills’ contact details were out of date, they advised him to update them so that if they needed to contact him in the future, he would be sure to receive their emails or letters.
As a result of signing up to Property Alert, Mr Mills was able to spot suspicious activity on his property and his prompt action in alerting them meant they were able to stop the fraudulent transaction from being registered.
More information available here: Property Alert – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and HM Land Registry – Property Alert.
If you would like to take action against fraudulent activity on your property and need further advice, please contact B P Collins property team at enquiries@bpcollins.co.uk or call 01753 889995.
