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Perhaps it's time to make Land Registry ownership details available only to accredited professionals.

Or maybe even require a certified photo of the new registered proprietor to be lodged with LR on completion of a transfer.

It's completely unfair to make solicitors responsible as has been done in this case, which seems to have been decided on a crude `deepest pockets' principle. Such is the high standard of forgery nowadays that you would have to be a forensic expert to identify a fake passport or other ID document. I've been shown fake passports and driving licence that were completely indistinguishable from the genuine article.

In any case, with so many foreign nationals now living here how on earth are we supposed to know what a genuine Polish / Nigerian / Russian passport looks like? It's just ridiculous to expect solicitors to act as expert forensic detectives.

Anyone holding a foreign passport should be required to have their ID independently verified and certified by the government before being able to buy or sell property here.