The Land Registry paid out a total of £3.5m in compensation for fraud last year.

It said: "We work with professional conveyancers, such as solicitors, and rely on them and the checks that they make to spot fraudulent attempts to impersonate property owners.Despite our efforts, every year we do register a very small number of fraudulent transactions."

This  alert is free and easy to set up. It will tell you the type of activity (such as an application to change the register or a notification that an application may be due), who the applicant is and the date and time it has been received.

Not all alert emails will mean fraudulent activity. If you don’t think the alert email is about any suspicious activity, you don’t need to do anything.

Signing up to Property Alert won’t automatically stop fraud from happening. You will need to decide if the activity on the property is potentially fraudulent and act quickly if so. The alert email will tell you who to contact.

Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert