In times like these people will stop at nothing to make a fast buck from the misery of others and the property world is as attractive and available to fraudsters as any others today.

Last year in this magazine a sorry tale was told of the Midlands based landlord Donna Jeavons and her friend, who bought a house in good faith through a reliable professional solicitor, using a mortgage and who then found out three months later that she had bought a stolen house with £30,000 worth of internal damage. How can this be the case with modern technology?

Unfortunately, since the Land Registry became online this has been an ever more common occurrence, where absent landlords or property owners have had their properties stolen from under their noses and in many cases whilst completely unaware. The cases have been so common that it has resulted in the Land Registry paying out over £26m in compensation claims to people that have literally had their properties stolen.

There has also been an ever increasing rise in identity theft, amongst all groups including tenants, and extra diligence is required to protect ourselves as property investors, landlords and agents.