Id, For Estate Agents & Solicitors

[poppet2 13]

If you don't have a passport or it is out of date, and you don't have a driving licence, what other form of ID would be acceptable to purchase a property? 

Edited December 29, 2020 by poppet2

[carosio 186]

It's the solicitors/conveyancers who have to comply with the money laundering regs. As far as I know if a person is buying/selling and doing the legal work themselves (and without a mortgage), then no proof is required, but in practice very few can.

 

https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/news/conveyancing/conveyancing-process-what-id-does-your-solicitor-need-137#WhatIDSolicitorNeeds

[poppet2 13]

I ask because Auction houses & Estate agents also ask for passport  or driver's licence if you purchase a cash property, despite the fact that you have your own solicitor who would have all your ID details. 

Edited December 29, 2020 by poppet2

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

On 29/12/2020 at 13:44, carosio said:

It's the solicitors/conveyancers who have to comply with the money laundering regs. As far as I know if a person is buying/selling and doing the legal work themselves (and without a mortgage), then no proof is required, but in practice very few can.

 

https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/news/conveyancing/conveyancing-process-what-id-does-your-solicitor-need-137#WhatIDSolicitorNeeds

 

On 29/12/2020 at 16:05, poppet2 said:

I ask because Auction houses & Estate agents also ask for passport  or driver's licence if you purchase a cash property, despite the fact that you have your own solicitor who would have all your ID details. 

1. Not only the solicitors: HM Land Registry too. Any application to register requires either:

a. details of the ALL parties' solicitors (who therefore have to have verified the client's ID/address) or

b. if there's no solicitor acting, evidence of each unrepresented party's ID/address otherwise e.g. by form ID1 etc

 

2. Equally, Estate Agents and Auctioneers are under a similar legal obligation to verify ID/address even for a person who's only a prospective buyer.

 

3. The basic requirements of HMLR are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evidence-of-identity-conveyancers

[carosio 186]

Yes, certainly at the registration stage. I believe that these identity procedures have been tightened up over the past 20 years or so.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

On 31/12/2020 at 13:07, carosio said:

Yes, certainly at the registration stage. I believe that these identity procedures have been tightened up over the past 20 years or so.

Possibly the Civil Servants who sought to 'dematerialise' ownership documentation such as Land/Charge Certificates- seeking to simplify procedures and to enable online dealings- did not take account of fraudsters' penchant for fraud.