The Conveyancing Association sits on the governance team for one of the Schemes looking to deliver digital identity to the Digital Identity Trust Framework created by the Department of Culture Media and Sports.
The Association sees digital identify as a key part of the solutions required to get rid of seller impersonation fraud. Fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated, changing their names by deed poll to enable them to get an official document in the name of the owner of the property. They then sell the property to an unsuspecting purchaser who only finds out they have been duped when HM Land Registry refuse to register their ownership.
Conveyancing Association members are encouraged to recommend their clients register for Property Alerts, a free service at HM Land Registry, which will notify them if someone tries to transact on their property.
However, these frauds could not happen if digital identity was used to identify the seller as it would become clear very quickly the person purporting to sell was not the rightful owner of the property.
The Digital Identity Trust Framework means the consumer only has to complete the process once and can then share the certificate of identity with the other stakeholders in the home moving process. We recommend to Conveyancing Association members they select identity providers who are certified as implementing the Digital Identity Trust Framework.