Sometimes I think that the British ought to be a little more careful. I needed to send a letter to my parents, but had forgotten the house number. Luckily, I could remember the street name and the month they moved in, and by looking it up on nethouseprices I got the house number, as well as the exact date of sale and the price they paid. This is one of many websites in England which make money by telling other people the details of your house purchase.
Any house sale in England is registered with the government land registry. This seems a sensible way of recording what belongs to whom. The fun-lovin' staff of the land registry decided that it would be great if everyone could find out how much the neighbours had paid for their house, and will tell you any sale price for three English pounds. They were undercut by private websites which are funded by advertisements.
So Mr. A sells his house to Mrs B, and lets the government know. Then Mr. C starts a website, gets the government Database and takes money from Mrs. D (who knows Mrs B. from the Womens Institute) to reveal how much Mrs. B is worth. Mr. C then probably gets rich, and lobbies the government to reveal the NHS records, so that Mrs B. can see whether Mrs. C had breast surgery.
So the next time you get a letter from England, take your correspondent's address, put it into that website, note the price, and in your reply mention that they have been ripped off as the neighbours seem to have paid 32 grand less despite their garden being 5 square yards bigger. If you are German, be sure to write at the end of your reply
In ze fatherland, vee hev vays of knowing zees sinks
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