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Frank, one of the points in the judgment is that there were a lot of warnings about the risk of fraud specifically in relation to higher value unmortgaged property, which MdR were taken to know, but which the apparently inexperienced client did not. The client was exposed to these risks. Quoting the judgment" it is not irrelevant that Mischons was necessarily far better placed … to consider and as far as possible achieve… greater protection for Dreamvar against the risk which did in fact occur". We think the following advice may help (for appropriate cases):

We have identified that property is unencumbered and/or vacant (or is otherwise a high-risk case for specific reasons discovered, or has high-risk features as referred to in the Law Society’s practice note in Property and Registration Fraud 2010) and so is known to be a target for fraudsters,
The seller’s solicitors have refused to give an undertaking, but confirm they have done normal checks on the seller
and there are no concerns.
Title insurance which covers the risk is available and could minimise the impact if the seller is a fraudster.•• If you do not obtain title insurance, there is a greater risk that all the money
may be lost.
However, we await the appeal...