Fraudsters employ many tactics to con you out of your cash – almost £9m was lost in 2024 to rental fraud alone.
According to insights shared by property company Sell House Fast, property-related fraud continues to target home buyers, sellers and renters.
Below, we look at the most common property scams and explain how to spot and avoid them.
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1. Fake buyer scams
Scammers pose as genuine buyers to steal the personal details of the property owner.
Scammers can convincingly pretend to be buyers by forging and sending fake documents and proof of deposit. They will appear like good buyers, often offering the asking price or higher, to secure the property. Once they have gained enough details about the property and its owner, they’ll end all contact.
2. Bogus conveyancing firms
Fraudsters will impersonate genuine solicitors or conveyancing firms in order to steal money or personal information during the house buying process.
Sometimes, the fraudster will hack into a solicitor’s or buyer’s email account, impersonate the solicitor and then provide alternative bank details for deposits to be paid to. Other times, the fraudster will call the buyer, impersonating an employee at the solicitor’s office and provide bank details this way.
Fraudsters also create fake websites impersonating legitimate solicitors or firms.
3. Under-valuation scams by ‘cash buyers’
This is when dodgy cash buying companies will make an unrealistically high offer on your property pending an official valuation. They’ll promise to get the cash in your hands in a number of days, but will make excuses to drag the process on.
At the last moment, when you have no choice but to accept the offer, the cash buyer will drop the price significantly.
4. Title deed fraud
After stealing the identity of the homeowner, fraudsters transfer the title of a property to their name illegally. Once they have secured the transfer, they can commit further acts of fraud by selling the property for their profit.
HM Land Registry provides a free Property Alert service that you can sign up for to get alerts about changes to the register for your property.
5. Tenancy application fraud
Rogue prospective tenants provide false information on all or part of their tenancy application in order to obtain a property. This could involve using doctored forms and images, as well as forging signatures.
Once they have the property, they may illegally sublet it.
6. Fake property listings
Scammers will list fake properties in order to obtain deposits from unsuspecting renters or homebuyers.
In some cases, these properties don’t exist, in other cases, the properties do exist but are owned by someone else.
How to spot and avoid property scams
Scammers can be relentless in their pursuits, but there are precautions you can take to avoid falling victim to a property scam:
- Only use solicitors registered with the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) when buying a property.
- Check the property’s ownership details via the Land Registry to see if the landlord’s name matches the person you’ve been talking to.
- If you’re in any doubt about requests for money, call your solicitor on a trusted number before making a deposit.
- Use a tool, such as TinEye to reverse image search images on property listings to see if they appear elsewhere on the internet.
- Don’t take your home off the market until the payment has cleared.
- Don’t pay deposits for a property before viewing it in person and ask the landlord for proof of ownership, such as a mortgage statement.
- Be wary of properties listed on social media and WhatsApp.
- If you’re using a cash buying service, check that the company is a member of the Property Ombudsman (TPOS) and the National Association of Property Buyers.
If you lose any money to a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.
