mortgage fraud
22 May 2008

Because of the wide ranging nature of fraudulent activities and the potential of solicitors to find themselves criminally liable because of the wide definition of fraud in the Fraud Act 2006 and the extensive offences under anti-money laundering regulations, the Law Society has published a practice note to help solicitors identify when mortgage fraud might be taking place.

You may be approached in any of the following ways:

• You may be asked to simply transfer the title to exchange and complete the transaction. A lender who has received the loan applications and already granted the loan may approach you with packaged transactions and completed paper work.
• You may be encouraged to alter the value on the Certificate of Title for the Land Registry.
• You may be encouraged not to comply with obligations in the CML Handbook.
• You may be offered continued work at a higher margin to encourage less diligent checks.

Fraudsters may attempt to recruit you into the fraud, especially if you have unwittingly assisted previously, or have developed an especially close relationship with other participants in the scheme.

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