Estate agents asking for ID and proof of address

[EL8888]

We put an offer in on a house the other week and it’s been accepted, we are moving forward with solicitors, surveys etc. Today the estate agents we are buying from have asked for certified ID and proof of our current address. I don’t remember this from other property purchases and l only bought my last property 3 years ago?!

It's to do with money laundering rules. We had to do it when we moved in October x

We have just had to do this too o it's obviously the norm now.

Well, l wouldn’t say it was obvious that’s why lm querying it as the last 2 property purchases (6 years ago and 3 years ago) l have been involved in it was not asked for. We aren’t even giving the estate agents but l suppose indirectly we are, as the vendor will be paying them out of the money we give them

It’s normal

It's money laundering regulations and anti-terrorist funding regulations. These have changed several times in recent years the latest rules came into effect in January this year.

These have been the rules for at least 2 years (we put an offer on a house 2018 and did this, then we bought a house last year)

Normal now

I had to do this about 10 years ago for a house I was selling, I used my passport as photo ID IIRC. We last bought property about seven years ago (I think) and I was amazed at how much proof/paperwork we had to provide for the money involved. It's a pain, but something we have to do nowadays!

I suppose part of my scepticism is to do with their mortgage broker hassling us to go with them. He was the one who informed us our offer had been accepted We have our own mortgage broker we are very happy

I had my own broker and the estate agent still needed the Id due to the new regulations. Your solicitor will also need copies x

Ah well, I share your scepticism regarding the mortgage broker OP! You do hear that EA will push you to speak to them and they (the broker) have obviously been told about the offer. I would emphasise to the EA that you are only interested in dealing with them concerning your offer on the property.

Yes it’s normal I’m an agent and it’s money laundering regulations been in place for about 2 years- we have to do it for all buyers

The broker and the solicitor have this info already so l will pass it onto the EA. Don’t worry l have made it crystal clear to the EA that we are sticking with our broker and there will be no changes. But l know sometimes people don’t listen!

we were cash buyers last year and my OH had to show paperwork of where the money was coming from (pension drawdown), had to take his passport driving licence and two utility bills to prove who he is and where he lived at the time, its to do with money laundering

Pretty sure we did this when we bought our house in 2017. If you last moved 3 years ago you must have just missed a change in rules.

I do this every time - in fact if it's been more than three months since I used the solicitor I have to do it again! Sounds weird as my passport is still the same, but it's the law now so got to do it, even though I've just this week showed them the same passport for the fifth time!

We had to take proof of ID in to the EA once our offer was accepted - anti-money laundering measures. Once we had done this the EA produced the memorandum of sale.

What is certified ID though? Normally it's photo ID and sometimes also proof of address. A certified copy of your ID document is what you would be asked to provide if you were unable to go into the EA's office in person.