The typical home buyer in the UK spends approximately 4.7 hours, equivalent to 282 minutes of working time, doing all of the paperwork associated with face-to-face verification of their identity and the signing of contracts and other paperwork. A recent study puts the time lost over excessive paperwork at over 360,000 lost hours in a month. Although some level of identity checking is essential in any large financial transaction, there is a growing school of thought that something needs to be done to streamline the process for both buyers and sellers.

Time Commitment for House Buying

Based on responses from 1,000 adults who purchased a home in the UK over the last three years, the study revealed that 64% of buyers had to physically go into the mortgage broker or bank to sign documents. Approximately 57% had face to face appointments with solicitors or visited a conveyancer to prove their identity and allow their documents to be inspected. Nearly half of the respondents also needed to have a witness to physically countersign contracts. The study also noted that about 11% of home buyers lose a day’s worth of working time due all of these visits to various offices to provide paperwork.

Digital Identity Verification

The research highlighted a continuing strong demand for the government to introduce digital IDs that bring driving licence information, passports, tax records, and qualifications into a single digital space, with 61% of people answering the survey saying that they would support the introduction of this sort of digital system.

Although online portals for identity verification have been available for some time, the report suggests that these have not been fully integrated into the conveyancing process. In 2022, HM Land Registry set new standards for digital ID verification, followed by standards for electronic signatures a year ago which should abolish the need for all these visits to offices to sign paperwork. However, the adoption of online tools in home buying has been slower than anticipated.

User-Friendly Identity Verification

The Deputy Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Land Registrar at HM Land Registry stated that there was widespread demand for secure and convenient online identity verification solutions and said that the government had introduced online portals to meet these needs. Some of the larger mortgage providers and financial services companies, such as NatWest, are already allowing people to verify their identity using existing banking logins a system which covers around 46 million UK residents.

If you are thinking about buying a property or taking out a new mortgage on an existing property, then ask your chosen solicitor conveyancer about their chosen methods for verifying your identity. If you don’t want to have to make repeated visits during work time, then don’t be afraid to ask the questions of your mortgage brokers or conveyancers about doing the paperwork online rather than in person. If conveyancers start to perceive that there is increased demand for online services, more will start to provide them, making the process quicker for all buyers and sellers.