Land registry ‘open to fraud’

An investigation by the BBC into property registration has lead the boss of Nationwide to call for a major reform into the Land Registry, saying it was needed to prevent an ‘exponential rise in fraud’.  The BBC applied to the Land Registry, claiming to be the owner of an unmortgaged house and asked to change the property’s correspondence address, without being asked for proof of identity. Since 2005 the registry has paid out £36 million in compensation for mistakes and fraud.