LAND REGISTRY: solicitors should be protected from crime


Solicitors have called on the Land Registry not to introduce a change to practice that would ‘put conveyancers at the frontline to take the blame for identity fraud’.



The proposal, included in a raft of mainly technical reforms to land registration rules, would put the onus on conveyancing solicitors to verify the identity of both parties to a transaction. Registration forms AP1 and FR1 would be amended to require conveyancers to confirm in a certificate that they had complied with their professional duties in verifying all parties’ identities.



The measure was suggested in a consultation that ended on Monday in an effort to combat fraud and forgery, which cost the Registry more than £2 million last year.



Responding to the consultation, the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee said: ‘Implementation of the proposal would create a fundamental shift in responsibility for identity fraud. However the revisions to AP1/FR1 are read, they put conveyancers in the frontline to take the blame for identity fraud.’



The committee said conveyancers themselves should be protected from being the victim of fraud, where they have acted reasonably in their identification/verification procedures.



It added: ‘The effect of introducing [the proposal] will increase the costs of the conveyancer, which will inevitably be passed on to his client.’



But in the consultation, the Registry said it did not believe the change would place a great burden on conveyancers, who already owe a duty professionally and under legislation in this respect. ‘We do believe however that the certificate will make it more difficult for fraudsters to commit a forgery and get themselves (or others) registered.’



Catherine Baksi