Home » News » Exclusive: Branches in 11 areas to pilot MHCLG digital identity scheme
Proptech

Exclusive: Branches in 11 areas to pilot MHCLG digital identity scheme

Estate agencies taking part in year-long pilot are in Battersea, Chiswick, Clapham, Putney, Wimbledon, Richmond, Kew, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Harrogate and York.

Nigel Lewis

digital identity

Estate agents, licensed conveyancers, solicitors and mortgage brokers in London, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire will be the first to trial the government’s new digital identity trust scheme, MyIdentity.

Offices in eleven areas – Battersea, Chiswick, Clapham, Putney, Wimbledon, Richmond, Kew, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Harrogate and York – are taking part in the year-long pilot scheme that launches this month, with more set to be added next year.

MyIdentity will become the central hub for home buyers and sellers who would no longer be repeatedly asked to provide their identity details throughout the sale process.

The aim is for everyone in the sector to recognise MyIdentity as an acceptable source of identity verification, using one set of government-backed standards. It would also be a better way of mitigating the risk of property and mortgage fraud.

Digital identity

Housing Minister Christopher Pincher (pictured) says: “It is good to see the progress being made on rolling out this scheme.

We know that buyers and sellers are confused and frustrated by the current process where they have their identity checked multiple times. A single check which can be relied upon by multiple parties will help us to deliver a modernised and better home buying experience.”

Etive Limited, the technology company delivering the scheme, will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as well as regulators and representative bodies, and expects to be in a position to run real live customers and transactions through the new scheme from October, using the website: www.myidentity.org.uk.

In the meantime, the government has updated its trust framework and is still consulting on how the companies involved, and the public, can access information and set out how people’s private data will be protected.

August 5, 2021

What's your opinion?

Please note: This is a site for professional discussion. Comments will carry your full name and company.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.