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Although I have some sympathy for the proposal that title deeds are "rematerialized" I also fear that it is now so easy for documents to be cloned etc that this may not necessarily be the solution.

The Land Registry suggestion that a form LL Restriction may help vendor's conveyancers focus a bit more on the identity of their client is only a small weapon and may in some cases again put increased burdens on conveyancers (particularly if this is the only weapon available). Precisely what steps should a conveyancer take other than to be aware of the warning signs...new client, address mismatches, client not being local to the property or instructing conveyancers not local to the property etc, quick turnaround of transactions, lower sale prices compared to the last sale price recorded on the title etc? There is a need for intelligent guidance for conveyancers on this and never to think that we have "sorted it" because the criminals always tend to be one or two or more steps ahead....
Sadly tailored insurance may be the only way...so as usual we all end up paying for these crimes. Any insurance should require however a series of checks and balances and not allow conveyancers just to be able to say "we've got insurance so we don't need to take care anymore" because all that will do is facilitate crime in a major way.