Following JS Brown's letter (see [2004] Gazette, 5 February, 15), you can actually liven things up even more at a dinner party if you point out that people's homes (especially their second homes) can be sold without their owners even realising it.

In contrast to the situation before 13 October 2003 when a certificate of identity, usually signed by a solicitor, was required for a replacement land certificate to be issued, the only safeguard against a fraudster posing as the owner of a property and selling it is if the solicitor acting on the sale (probably receiving the new client as a recommendation from a local agent) is to ask for passport identification.

Perhaps it was worthwhile having land certificates after all.

John Newbold, McQueen Yeoman, Poole, Dorset