New Program to Fight Real Estate Fraud in Philidelphia

There was a new Bill that amends Title 2 of the Philadelphia Code, instituted in Philidelphia called the Document Notice Program, This will help the records department deal with the growing problem of real estate fraud in the city.

The measure that Councilman William Greenlee introduced was passed Unanimously on June 19, 2008 by the City Council and signed by Mayor Michael Nutter on Aug. 14 2008. The ordinance will go into effect on November 3, 2008.

This amendment Provides the delivery of deeds to the Department of Records must meet certain requirements. That prior to the recording of any deed, a check of record ownership must be conducted by the Department of Record and that appropriate documentation must be submitted to the Department with certain deeds. Each time a deed or mortgage is recorded, the Records Department will mail a letter with details of the transaction to the current property owner, allowing the owner the ability to verify if the transaction is legal or fraudulent. The letter also will contain information on legal services as well as information on what to do should the transaction truely be fraudulent.

This Document Notice Program is designed to protect homeowners by giving them the ability to determine if the transaction is fraudulent immediately instead of at a later date.

“Real estate fraud is a growing problem in Philadelphia, this should help deter fraud, but in a very limited, minimal way." said Joan Decker, records commissioner, "We expect this measure to increase our workload, we will more than likely have to add employees to the department at some point.”

The recorder’s office has also enhanced its security measures by taking pictures of all walk-ins and requiring walk-ins to sign a log book. As of April 2008, Philadelphia had received 454 reports of suspected land fraud since 2000.

With the new security measures taken in the recorders office the District Attorney has been able to use these Pictures and logbooks when prosecuting some of these Fraudulent land cases.