Do you need a driving licence to buy property

vax2002

The solicitor needs two forms of ID, the driving licence is not a compulsory form of one of these ID's, so yes they are chocking around.

phoebe1989seb

When we bought our latest house (with cash from our previous house sale and no mortgage involved, so no bank/building soc checks to go through) in May, I had no driving licence and my passport had expired (DH had both though, but house purchase was in joint names) and our solicitor was happy to proceed without any form of photo-id from me

calisto

timmyt wrote: »

Remember that conveyancers take an enormous risk doing the legal work they do, for weeks on end, only to get £500 in many cases. Seriously huge risks they take. If they make the slightest innocent mistake, a lot of times because their own client is pressuring 'get me into the house, please please please etc' , they could be out of pocket for the full value of the property, there are negligence claims all the time in the press.

But they also face huge risks without even doing the legal work...still for their £500...and that is because of ID theft by some people, and money launderers.

So if the solicitor wants certain ID, because they consider that what they are asking for reduces their exposure to huge risk...still for their paltry £500...they why on earth are you arguing or reluctant.

Duh.... Mr Thicky..... Perhaps some people DON'T HAVE A DRIVING LICENCE.... maybe they DON'T EVEN HAVE A PASSPORT!!!

Shock horror!

And like !!!! Conveyancers take on any risk at all - the work is dished out to the 18 year old clerks to deal with as it's all just routine bread and butter. I do it myself personally, I know I get the job done quicker and more thoroughly than a spotty YTS clerk (not that they have them anymore, I wouldn't be surprised to see it all sent off to India)

HappyMJ

timmyt wrote: »

So if the solicitor wants certain ID, because they consider that what they are asking for reduces their exposure to huge risk...still for their paltry £500...they why on earth are you arguing or reluctant.

So because I can't drive and don't wish to travel the world I cannot buy a house? Is that what you are saying?

Running_Horse

I have bought two houses without a driving license.

The first in the late 80s I wasn't even on the electoral register, which I reluctantly joined when moving recently because things are a lot tighter now.

kingstreet

A financial transaction such as a house purchase requires the sight of proof of identity and evidence of address. There are two lists, one for each.

In the A list of identification items, you'll find current valid passport, driving licence, firearms certificate, possibly major employer's identity card and a few other options.

In the B list, it's bank statement, utility bill, council tax bill, mortgage statement and the like. The former should be dated within the last three months. Driving licence can be on both lists, but can be used for only one purpose at a time.

Normally, you will be able to choose which items to produce for your convenience. I would suggest contacting the solicitor or looking on their website as they almost certainly have the two lists of acceptable items and you shouldn't be restricted to only the two mentioned.

Worth a note - for a non face to face transaction, you can be asked for two ID items and two EoA proofs.

kingstreet

Running_Horse wrote: »

I have bought two houses without a driving license.

The first in the late 80s I wasn't even on the electoral register, which I reluctantly joined when moving recently because things are a lot tighter now.

IIRC the first lot of Money Laundering requirements was introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and these were later superceded by the Money Laundering Act of 2007.

Running_Horse

Joining the electoral register wasn't so much for identification, but for a credit rating.

kingstreet

Running_Horse wrote: »

Joining the electoral register wasn't so much for identification, but for a credit rating.

Good point.

sonastin

timmyt wrote: »

Remember that conveyancers take an enormous risk doing the legal work they do, for weeks on end, only to get £500 in many cases. Seriously huge risks they take. If they make the slightest innocent mistake, a lot of times because their own client is pressuring 'get me into the house, please please please etc' , they could be out of pocket for the full value of the property, there are negligence claims all the time in the press.

So what is that £500 paying for, if a decent chunk of it isn't being used to pay for professional indemnity insurance to cover your a$$?

In those negligence claims you're talking about, how many conveyancers stump up the full value of the property? I would bet that the number is so small as to be negligible.

Mere mortals pay professionals as much for the protection of their insurance as for the skills and training that they bring to the table. I could have done a better job on my conveyancing than my solicitor (yes he was an actual real solicitor with a local office and everything and no office junior to give the work to) but I couldn't get an insurance policy to cover a mistake I might make for the £700 I paid him so to me it was money well spent.