Data from the Land Registry was obtained by Thirdfort via a Freedom of Information request.
It revealed that in 2022 a total of 178,086 households registered for the service, which notifies recipients whenever searches are carried out against specific addresses. The service has been pinpointed as a key defence against fraudulent property transactions.
This total represented a jump of almost a third from the 135,624 who registered for the property alert service in 2021. So far in 2023 34,821 households have signed up.
Thirdfort suggested that the spike in registrations was down to increasing concerns around the risk of falling foul of property fraud, following a series of high profile incidents.
In total, more than 618,000 households have now signed up for the free service since it was launched in 2014. That nonetheless represents a tiny percentage of the overall number of property owners in the UK.
Olly Thornton-Berry, co-founder and managing director of Thirdfort, noted that fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated, which increases the risk of being caught out by criminals behind property fraud schemes.
He continued: “There’s been an explosion in fake ID documents, and we’ve seen some high profile examples of fraudsters acquiring ownership of properties using forged documents to impersonate registered owners. Empty properties, tenanted properties and those without a mortgage are particularly at risk.”
