Cases of mortgage fraud are expected to surge next year as more people attempt to misrepresent their finances or hide adverse credit histories.

Information services company Experian predicts that a total of 43 out of every 10,000 applications will be identified as fraudulent, an increase of 13% on this year and up 26% on 2011.

It pointed out that almost 90% of mortgage fraud tends to stem from individuals offering misleading information about their own financial and employment backgrounds.

Tougher rules on UK mortgage lending are due to come into force in 2014, when lenders will have to put a borrower's ability to repay under great scrutiny.

Attempted mortgage fraud in the third quarter of this year was up six per cent on the same period last year.

For the first time in the past year it overtook current account fraud.