ID1 form requested... 8 months after sale!??

[abitharsh]

My solicitor has asked me to go and pay for an ID1 form because "Land Registry have requested an additional document as a spot check that they occasionally do".... "the buyers will not be able to register the purchase without this and in turn cannot remove you from the title..."
(ID1 form is to prove that I am who I say I am - solicitor checks my passport and signs to confirm).
I've seen that this can cost anything from £5 to £100.
It seems absurd to me - is this an error by the agents, or is it a common thing to have to do? Have you heard of something like this so long after a sale? Tia

Sounds like your buyer's solicitor is having an issue trying to update the register at Land Registry.

Once a transaction completes, the buyer's solicitor has to make the usual application to the Land Registry to update the title with the name(s) of the new owner.

Land Registry may have taken quite a while to look at the application (particularly at the current time) and have now raised a query (a requisition) about the application.

It is probably the Land Registry that want the ID1 and won't register the new owners until they have it.

Did this sale involve you selling on behalf of someone else, or was there a discrepancy with your name?

Not an error by the agents, but possibly was missed by your solicitor or the buyer's solicitor during the course of the transaction, or they were not aware that Land Registry would request it. Nevertheless, if you didn't submit an ID1 during the course of transaction, it sounds as though it would have been required.

I don't think you will be able to claim the cost of this - it would be seen as a disbursement, whether it was done 8 months ago or now.

A quick Google tells me that an ID1 form is required when a registration application is submitted by someone who is not a conveyancer, so it seems strange that your solicitor is requesting it. If the buyers require it because they are not applying via a conveyancer, then surely they should pay any additional costs associated with this?

I've had my ID confirmed by a solicitor a few times for various legal and accountancy work - £10 is the going rate in my area. I think £100 is way off the mark.