Money laundering

Seanymph

We have our forms from the conveyancer and he says he needs to see my husbands passport and a utility bill, or a certified copy.

We live away from the property.

Wold a solicitor charge to certify a copy?

Does it have to be my husband who takes them?

I can drive to the conveyancer, or go,see a solicitor, but my husband is deep into harvest and has no time.

glentoran99

I was able to take in both mine and my wifes, didn't need both of us to go

googler

Seanymph wrote: »

Would a solicitor charge to certify a copy?

That depends on your chosen solicitor, surely?

Seanymph wrote: »

Does it have to be my husband who takes them? I can drive to the conveyancer, or go, see a solicitor, but my husband is deep into harvest and has no time.

My understanding is that the organisation doing the certifying has to be reasonably certain that they have identified the holder of the documents presented. It's difficult to see how they can do this with any certainty if the person holding a photo ID doesn't present themselves with the ID.

"To be a valid due diligence check, the client should bring his or her original passport to you and you should take copies yourself. This is to: prevent copies being tampered with; and enable you to check the passport’s photo page against the individual presenting it. " from

http://www.icaew.com/en/archive/members/practice-resources/icaew-practice-support/practicewire/news/money-laundering-what-do-you-do-with-passports

However, there are electronic methods to conduct money-laundering checks, and a modern, switched-on solicitor may well have access to these. Provide enough info about your husband - full name, DoB, time at current address, etc. and they may be able to complete an electronic check based on this

"There are now a number of subscription services that give access to databases of information on identity. Many of these services can be accessed on-line and are often used by businesses to replace or supplement paper verification checks" from

http://www.ccab.org.uk/PDFs/CCAB%20guidance%202008-8-26.pdf

G_M

Most soliciors will certify ID for £5. Then send that to your conveyancer.

I in doubt, speak to your conveyancer to see what will satisfy him/her.

TBagpuss

As G_M says, most solicitors will do certified copies of your ID for you at a modest charge .

As they are certifying that the photocopy they stamp is a true copy of the original, they normally only need to see the original ID documents, not the the individual (as they are not certifying that you're you, they are certifying that they have seen the original ID document)

If your conveyancer says they need to copy to explicitly say that the photo is a true likeness of the named person then they would also need to you each of you in person, but that is much less common (and most solicitors will only do that kind of ID if they already know you or you are already a client of their firm)

Slinky

My pack says they will accept certified copies from a person not attending their offices from a local solictor, a Post Office checked service or the estate agent. Is the estate agent an option for you?

Verbally they said they would accept a certified copy from our accountant who signed my OH's one for us.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Law Society Guidance:

Reliance in the UK

You can only rely on the following persons in the UK :

a credit or financial institution which is an authorised person
a consumer credit financial institution
a person in the following professions who is supervised by a supervisory authority listed in Schedule 3 of the regulations:
auditor
insolvency practitioner
external accountant
tax adviser
independent legal professional

Senior_Paper_Monitor

From a randomly selected large financial services provider:

Who can certify your documents?

Please ask one of the following people to certify that the copy of the document you're sending is the same as the original:

• a regulated financial adviser
• a solicitor
• an accountant
• an officer of a regulated bank (usually your own branch)
• a civil servant
• a mortgage broker
• a teacher
• Minister of religion
• Post or Sub Post master/mistress

Senior_Paper_Monitor

From our own compliance guidelines:

For UK-Residents certification of documentation should be undertaken by a regulated or professional person covered by the money laundering regulations or by somebody from a government department/agency or organisation, this means that the following people could certify documentation:
Solicitor and Justice of the Peace;
Banker;
Financial services intermediary/ Full time insurance agent;
Accountant;
Teacher;
Doctor, Dentist, Optician or Nurse (RGN and RMN);
Civil Servant;
Airline pilot;
Chairman/Director of a limited company;
Commissioner of oaths;
Member of Parliament / Councillor (local or county);
Minister of a recognised religion;
Police Officer
Trade Union Official
Post Office Officer

Senior_Paper_Monitor

which in turn refers to our discretion to accept from the government list as to who may certify for a passport:

Recognised professions:

• Examples of recognised professions include:
• accountant
• airline pilot
• articled clerk of a limited company
• assurance agent of recognised company
• bank/building society official
• barrister
• chairman/director of limited company
• chiropodist
• commissioner for oaths
• councillor, eg local or county
• civil servant (permanent)
• dentist
• director/manager/personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
• engineer - with professional qualifications
• financial services intermediary, eg a stockbroker or insurance broker
• fire service official
• funeral director
• insurance agent (full time) of a recognised company
• journalist
• Justice of the Peace
• legal secretary - fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs
• licensee of public house
• local government officer
• manager/personnel officer of a limited company
• member, associate or fellow of a professional body
• Member of Parliament
• Merchant Navy officer
• minister of a recognised religion - including Christian Science
• nurse - RGN or RMN
• officer of the armed services
• optician
• paralegal - certified paralegal, qualified paralegal or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals
• person with honours, eg an OBE or MBE
• pharmacist
• photographer - professional
• police officer
• Post Office official
• president/secretary of a recognised organisation
• Salvation Army officer
• social worker
• solicitor
• surveyor
• teacher, lecturer
• trade union officer
• travel agent - qualified
• valuer or auctioneer - fellows and associate members of the incorporated society
• Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers

.... but nowhere does the 'estate agent' feature (better find a chirpodist !!!! - if you don't know any journalists :eek:)

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Having just been IP banned for the above posts apparently (so just using a hot swap internet access to say I won't be back).