TLDR: Under HM Land Registry’s Digital ID Standard, property owners must provide two documents from a specified list to prove ownership during transactions. Accepted documents include recent utility bills, council tax bills, mortgage statements, driving licenses, HMRC letters, insurance policies, firearm certificates, purchase agreements, lettings agent agreements, building regulations sign-offs, service charge demands, or tenancy deposit confirmations. Thirdfort does not verify these documents; clients or compliance teams must review them.

Proof of Ownership

Under HM Land Registry’s Digital ID Standard, any client who owns the subject property in the transaction is required to provide two documents to support their Proof of Ownership claim. Two sources from the list below are required to meet this standard.

If you have selected 'Property - Seller' or 'Property - Other' as the activity type for an Enhanced NFC ID check, the client will have a task appear in the app asking them to provide two forms of Proof of Ownership documents from the list below. Should any additional documents need uploading, this can be done via the Optional Document Upload Feature, which is available for clients once they have completed all their tasks.

Accepted Documents

Your client will be required to provide any two of the following documents:

Utility bills, bank or building society statements dated within the last 3 months
Local authority council tax bills for the current financial year
Original mortgage statements from a recognised lender for the last full year
Current or photocard driving licences UK - EEA
HM Revenue and Customs self-assessment letters or tax demands dated within the current financial year - HMRC
An insurance policy schedule for the property

A current firearm or shotgun certificate
A copy of the agreement for the purchase of the property
A lettings agent agreement on headed paper
A local authority building regulations sign off for works undertaken to the property addressed to the individual
Management company service charge demands for the property addressed to the individual
Confirmation of tenancy deposit scheme registration

Is proof of ownership verified by Thirdfort?

Thirdfort does not verify any documents uploaded as proof of ownership.

Any documents uploaded by a client under this task must be reviewed to ensure they satisfy your requirements for Proof of Ownership, and that they do indeed pertain to the address of the subject property.

If you are unsure how to proceed, we recommend speaking with a member of your compliance team.

This article is based on accessing Thirdfort directly via our portal. If you access Thirdfort via a partner or reseller, functionality may differ.