The home buying and selling process is based on a high level of trust between trusted third parties such as estate agents, solicitors and conveyancers, mortgage intermediaries and mortgage lenders. The core of the transaction centres on proof of identity and ownership and currently organisations will not trust identity verification carried out by another organisation. This is causing a continuing increase in time to complete the transaction with poor consumer experience and ample opportunity for identity and subsequent property and mortgage fraud.
The common view is that the introduction of a standards based digital identity assurance process, backed by regulators, should be adopted by the industry and this would lead to significant reduction in the time to complete without adding cost to the process and a reduction in the risk of fraud. The reduction in time to complete is seen as the most pressing issue and the most important deliverable of the introduction of a digital identity trust scheme.
What the trust scheme could look like - First Draft March 20
Project Overview - Structure & working groups
Accreditation Scheme Objectives
- Enable the consumer to get their identity verified once
- Enable the consumer to share their identity with relying parties
- Reduce friction for the client and the process
- Increase the standard of identity across the whole sector
- Increase barriers to property and mortgage fraud
- Reduce risk to conveyancers through accredited providers
- Reduce failed transactions
Identity Standards
- Aligned to DCMS and Government policy for identity
- Aligned to HMLR and their ‘safe harbour’ principles
- Accreditation scheme for identity providers (IDPs) building trust and reliance
For more details and to take part Contact Us
Project press release January 21 PDF
