Paying for identification checks?

museclio

My mortgage fixed rate expires in a few months and I've just managed to scrape through with a new agreement in principle this week. However: I'm now being asked by the new provider (Leeds Building Society) to pay for identification checks. Is this usual? Has anyone else seen this? 
It seems a bit rich given the £999 fees I'm being charged for the pleasure of opening the mortgage itself to bolt on additional charges like this. A breakdown of this sort of additional and totally hidden cost would I think, be really valuable but I'm not aware that any exists...

K_S

@museclio Are you sure about this? I can't recall a lender charging the client for ID verification, usually if they can't verify the applicant electronically they'll ask for copies of proof of id and address and do it manually.

Who specifically is asking you to pay, for what and how much?

museclio said:

My mortgage fixed rate expires in a few months and I've just managed to scrape through with a new agreement in principle this week. However: I'm now being asked by the new provider (Leeds Building Society) to pay for identification checks. Is this usual? Has anyone else seen this? 
It seems a bit rich given the £999 fees I'm being charged for the pleasure of opening the mortgage itself to bolt on additional charges like this. A breakdown of this sort of additional and totally hidden cost would I think, be really valuable but I'm not aware that any exists...

ACG

The £999 arrangement fee buys you the cheaper rate.
Without the fee, the rate would be higher. 

dunstonh

However: I'm now being asked by the new provider (Leeds Building Society) to pay for identification checks. Is this usual? 

It is not usual as lenders are required by law to do identify checks.  Plus, as someone that uses electronic ID checks, it costs us £1.70 per for each check.

However, we have seen a few posts recently saying estate agents are charging 10-15 times that amount to do a check.  So, maybe its a new wheeze where some are trying it on.

museclio

I'm definitely sure I'm being asked to pay for this. It's only £12 which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but as previous poster said it seems highly likely someone is making significant profit here, but it definitely isn't me...

dimbo61

Is this ID checks or a Credit check ?
Are they asking for previous addresses  ?

K_S

museclio said:

I'm definitely sure I'm being asked to pay for this. It's only £12 which in the grand scheme of things isn't much, but as previous poster said it seems highly likely someone is making significant profit here, but it definitely isn't me...

@museclio Who is asking you to pay this - Leeds or the solicitor? If it is the solicitor, then it is quite normal to charge around that amount for ID checks, for example see an excerpt from a solicitor re-mortgage quote below

If you opted for Lender Free Legals when applying for the re-mortage, then you shouldn't normally be charged for this. If this is the case then check with the solicitor as to why this isn't included in the free legals.