HOUSTON – It’s a nightmare scenario: discovering your home has been stolen from you without any warning. KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis has been delving into cases like these for years, uncovering the unsettling reality of property fraud.
Property fraud, also known as deed fraud, occurs when someone else places their name on your deed, effectively claiming your property as their own. It sounds impossible, but it happens more often than you might think.
In a recent case covered by KPRC 2, a family’s home, which had been in their possession for six decades, was transferred to a stranger without the homeowner’s knowledge.
County clerk offers tips to prevent property deed theft
This type of crime is on the rise, prompting the need for awareness and prevention measures.
To gather more information on how to protect your property, Amy Davis reached out to the Harris County Clerk’s Office. They referred her to Dallas County Clerk John Warren, an expert in this field, who shared his insights on an episode of “Ask Amy.”
John Warren advises that the first step in safeguarding your property is to set up a fraud alert with your local county clerk’s office.
“You go there and register for the property fraud alert system that we have with our recording system,” Warren explains. “If a document is recorded with your name, you will receive an alert.”
As soon as you receive a notice of a document being recorded, you can contact the clerk’s office to verify the legitimacy of the document. This proactive measure can help you catch fraudulent activity early.
You can register not only your own property but also those of aging parents or family members to ensure their protection as well. However, not every county has such a system in place. Harris County, for example, does not currently offer a property alert system.
“For those counties that don’t have a property fraud alert system, I would advise every citizen who is a property owner to go to their appraisal districts website, the appraisal district website list, every piece of property and who the owner is. And any time there is a document that is recorded that conveys property or changes the owner of the property, they’ll update that within 72 hours, depending on the volume.”
“If the county does not have a property fraud alert system, go to your appraisal district’s website, put in either your name or your property address and it’ll show if you use your name, it’ll show that you if you if you still own the property, it’ll show you as the owner. If you put in the address, it’ll then show who the owner of the property is. So there is something you can do. And in those instances where you see that the, the name of the property has changed to someone else, when it is when it’s actually yours, then that’s when you also then contact the clerk’s office as it relates to that change, as it relates to ownership according to the appraisal district’s records.”
Warren says you should just go in there periodically, maybe every quarter at least.
Helpful links related to property/deed fraud
Property Fraud Alert - allows you to set up alerts on your property records.
Counties in our area that have property fraud alert systems
- Montgomery County Property Fraud Alert (FraudSleuth)
These Houston-area counties do not offer property fraud alerts:
Harris
Chambers
Liberty
Waller
Wharton
Matagorda `
Walker
Watch the full Ask Amy episode on deed/property fraud here.
Do you have a question for Amy? Email AskAmy@kprc.com.
