If you listen to the radio you probably have heard an
ominous radio advertisement about thieves taking title to your home,
refinancing the mortgage and leaving you to suffer when the mortgage is not
paid, resulting in you being served as the unknown tenant in the bank’s
foreclosure. The advertisement then
offers to protect you by monitoring your property title for only $9.99 per
month. Their tag line is “Title
Insurance Doesn't Protect You and Neither Does Your Bank or Identity Theft
Protection. HOME TITLE LOCK DOES!”
According to
the FBI, property and mortgage fraud is the fastest growing white-collar crime
in the United States. The threat described above is real and I have been
involved in property fraud cases in the past.
These usually involved sophisticated parties with knowledge of deeds,
recordings and the like, and the willingness to steal notary seals and alter
corporate records. The game has now
changed due to online records and images, high quality printers and
e-recording. My most recent property
theft case was against a lender who had foreclosed a property in 2014 that sat
vacant for two years. Thieves simply
created a deed template, used Photoshop to insert a real signatures and notary
stamp from prior recorded deeds in New Jersey on the Florida forgery, added a
few fake unintelligible witnesses and then slipped a clerk at a title company a
few dollars to e-record the deed.
The thieves
used a fake title company name as the deed preparer, and a fake trust name as
the new owner, without naming an actual Trustee (which is required to have a
valid grantee/buyer in Florida as Trusts alone cannot hold title under Florida
law). Since the property had been
foreclosed, it was free and clear of liens and mortgages, and the deed forger
could have easily obtained a loan secured by the property. Alternatively, and the more common criminal
act, is the deed forger uses the deed to take physical control of the property,
acting as landlord to rent the home while its true owner thinks it is vacant,
waiting for a future sale.
The forgery
was discovered by the new owner who purchased the house days after the forged
deed was recorded. She was denied
homestead, made a claim on her title policy and we successfully filed suit to
quiet title. The cost was paid by the
title company because the forged deed was recorded before her insured deed.
However, if this happens to you after your deed is recorded, your title
insurance owner’s policy will not insure the title claim, forcing you to have
to cover the cost of any lawsuit to correct the defect.
Home Title
Lock is a for profit company that claims to protect your title for only $9.99
per month. Essentially they monitor the
title to you property by searching public records for any changes, such as any
newly filed deeds, mortgages or liens.
They claim that they use “proprietary technology (that) forms a virtual
perimeter around your home and property title.”
If an instrument is recorded, they claim they “ALERT you immediately
with key information such as names involved with the transaction, the amount of
loan, date of such loan, (and sic) document
name.” They also claim that if a
detected activity is not authorized to “mobilize all our resources to help you
shut it down - FAST!” However, the
website provides no documentation on this last element, which would normally
require local legal assistance and a high legal cost.
Alternatively
you have two other free options that you can use to protect the title to your
property. The easiest approach is to
simply act as your own monitor of title by searching the public records to see
if any changes have occurred. All
counties in Florida maintain a name index which is accessible online (Using www.tinyurl as a prefix: Palm Beach: qejqo; Broward: ycmj9fce; and Miami-Dade: ybzr6xds). Simply search your name to determine if
anyone has tried to file a deed or lien using your name as a forgery. A ninety day search of my own name showed a
deed, notice and mortgage (but not any of my own property), so no issues.
An
alternative offered by some County Clerks of Court is a Property Fraud Alert
registry. Palm Beach County (tinyurl.com/ya9m766b)
allows owners to register to receive free alerts when a document such as a deed
or mortgage is recorded with the clerk using your name or business name. Sign-up is a one page application that simply
requests your name and whether you wish to be contacted by phone or email.
Being
vigilant regarding your most valuable possession is the only way to protect
yourself from this growing problem.
Monitor your title, register for fraud alerts, petition your local
county to offer this service if not yet available, and take quick action if
anything is recorded. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and
in this battle, that is the real key.
