The Land Registry's decision to abolish land certificates and charge certificates appears, on the face of it, to be a bold and imaginative step towards the e-future. At one time, I became quite an expert at losing land certificates and an even more expert in applying for their replacement - but I was happy to dispense with such skills.


However, recently one of our clients found out, almost by accident, that a business associate was trying to get himself registered as the owner of a property in respect of which they had a joint venture. The mortgage had been paid off so all he had to do was send in a transfer (which my client alleges he forged) to the Land Registry, form AP1 and the appropriate fee.



Meanwhile, my client remained in possession of the land certificate and, if it had not been for an associated application by the business associate, he would have been blithely unaware that he was no longer the registered owner until the time came for him to sell or mortgage the property, perhaps years later.



Although it would be possible to forge a land or charge certificate, they were in a distinctive format and you would have to be quite ingenious to manage it.



I believe the existence of the certificates represented a genuine deterrent to fraudulent practice of this kind. I suspect the only reason that it is not yet widespread is that potential fraudsters have not yet realised that land certificates no longer have any formal significance and believe production of 'title deeds' in some form is needed before they can steal someone's title.



Equally, legitimate owners without up-to-date legal knowledge may be lulled into thinking that carefully lodging their land certificates with their solicitors, in a personal safe or with their banks, guarantees that their legal titles are safeguarded.



Ironically, my recollection is that in the last year or so before they were abolished, the Land Registry considerably tightened up the procedures for replacing lost certificates.



Malcolm Brahams, David Wineman Solicitors, London