Yes folks, grab your tin-foil hats and get under the kitchen table.  Big Brother is now a part of every property transaction you can think of.  It is necessary for all parties to a property transaction to identify themselves, whether it’s a sale, mortgage or family transfer.  Conspiracies aside, there are some very good reasons for identity verification in property transactions, and most of them are to protect you.

I Don’t Know Who I Am Anymore

Everywhere we go, it seems we are one or two items short of being able to prove who we are.  Achieving the required identity grade can be difficult when your purse only contains your licence, credit card, a broken eyeliner, and a foreign coin.

Fortunately, there are some very clever applications available that bridge the gap between online and physical identification. The main purpose of these processes is to enable identification services to be more remotely operated, so that you don’t always have to attend the bank or the conveyancer’s office to complete your identification requirements.

That said, not all applications are created equal and when it comes to the high stakes of conveyancing, only services approved by the regulator are allowed to be used.  Bliss Conveyancing utilises the services of TriVoi because it is an approved platform, and because of its balance of high security and ease of use.

Property Swindlers

Although it is not widely reported, and has been on the decline in recent years, property fraud has had a serious impact on people’s lives.  While its not as simple as literally stealing your house, a clever fraudster could gather enough information to be able to pretend to be you and obtain a mortgage or other encumbrance over your property and take out a loan.  You would then have that debt against your property, even though you never got the money.

Although many years ago now, the case of Alex Vella is a perfect example of how fraudsters can impact your property ownership.  Obviously, many of the cases are much smaller than that and don’t make the headlines.  However, even a relatively small fraudulent loan can take a lot of time and money to unwind.

This is why the land registry has very strict identity requirements, and Bliss Conveyancing can help you navigate those requirements to ensure that you and your property remain secure.