The Government has asked parliament to consider HM Land Registry’s digital mortgage scheme and a request for it to accept the resulting contingent liability for fraud.
Speaking in parliament today MP Greg Clark revealed that the service, set to launch in 2018, will provide borrowers with the choice of signing their mortgage online.
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy also confirmed that, in advance of registration, HMLR will certify a borrower’s identity when a digital signature is provided.
This will be done through the registry’s own security processes as well as through the government website’s Verify function.
In regard to the risk of fraud, Clark stated that the overall risk should fall, despite the emergence of fresh liability.
He stated: “The new process, where the borrower’s identity has to be verified through GOV.UK Verify combined with HMLR’s independent security processes, should in fact reduce the overall risk of fraud.
“To date GOV.UK Verify has not identified a single example of fraud despite in excess of 1.25 million citizens’ accounts having been created using the GOV.UK Verify service.”
