The Verification of Identity Process Explained

If you have bought, sold or refinanced property recently, you may have been asked to attend an appointment with your conveyancer or solicitor and bring your driver licence and passport, even though you have dealt with them entirely by phone or email up to that point. This is the Verification of Identity process, usually shortened to VOI, and it is now a standard step in almost every Australian property transaction. It exists to protect both you and the wider land title system from fraud, and it is worth understanding before you get to that appointment.

What Verification of Identity Actually Is

VOI is a formal check, carried out by your conveyancer, solicitor or an authorised identity agent, that confirms you are who you say you are before a document affecting your property title is lodged with the land registry. The standard used across the country was set by the Australian Registrars' National Electronic Conveyancing Council, and it applies to anyone signing a transfer, mortgage, discharge of mortgage or caveat. The requirements are detailed in the ARNECC identity agent guidance, which explains who can carry out a compliant check and what "reasonable steps" to verify identity actually means in practice.

The process was developed alongside the shift to electronic conveyancing through PEXA, where a registration can be lodged without either party physically attending a settlement. Because there is no in-person handover of paper documents anymore, the identity check has to happen at the start of the transaction rather than being implied by the physical signing process.

Why VOI Became a Standard Requirement

Land title fraud, where someone impersonates a genuine owner to sell or mortgage a property without their knowledge, is not common but it is serious when it happens, and electronic lodgment made it theoretically easier to attempt without a robust identity check in place. VOI closes that gap by requiring documented proof of identity before any dealing is registered. It also protects mortgagees, since a lender needs confidence that the person signing a loan and mortgage is genuinely the registered owner of the security property, particularly important in a refinancing transaction where the borrower may never meet the lender in person.

The Document Categories You Will Be Asked For

The standard groups acceptable identity documents into categories, and you generally need to produce a combination that adds up to sufficient points of evidence. For an Australian citizen or resident, this typically means a primary photographic document such as a current passport or driver licence, supported by a secondary document like a Medicare card or a recent utility bill in your name. If you do not hold standard Australian identity documents, for example because you are a foreign national or your documents are all overseas issued, a different category applies and your conveyancer will guide you through what is acceptable in that situation.

Your conveyancer or an identity agent they engage will sight the originals in person, or use an approved electronic verification method that checks your documents against government-held records. A photocopy or a photo sent by text message on its own is not sufficient, because the whole point of the exercise is confirming the physical document matches the person in front of the verifier.

Who Is Required to Complete VOI

Every registered proprietor, purchaser, mortgagor and anyone signing under a power of attorney needs to go through the process, not just the person who found the property or arranged the finance. In a residential purchase with joint buyers, both people need to be verified individually. The same applies to a property transfer between family members, where it can feel unnecessary because everyone already knows each other, but the requirement does not have an exception for related parties. If someone is acting under a power of attorney, additional evidence is needed to confirm both the identity of the attorney and the validity of the power of attorney document itself.

VOI for Overseas or Interstate Clients

Not being able to attend your conveyancer's office in person is common and manageable. Many firms use approved digital identity verification providers that can complete the check remotely, sometimes via a video call combined with document scanning software. If you are overseas, an alternative is to have your identity verified by an equivalent professional in that country, such as a notary public or Australian consular officer, following the specific category of the standard that applies to overseas verification. It is worth raising this early with your conveyancer rather than leaving it until close to settlement, since remote verification sometimes takes longer to arrange than an in-person appointment.

Where VOI Fits Into Your Settlement Timeline

Ideally, VOI happens early, at the same time you are engaging your conveyancer and before contracts are far advanced, rather than being left as a last-minute task before settlement. Because the evidence gathered has to be kept on file for a set period after lodgment, your conveyancer will usually build the appointment into your engagement process as a matter of course. If you are buying and selling at the same time, or dealing with a NSW, Victorian or Queensland transaction with a tight settlement date, having your VOI done early removes one more variable from an already busy settlement period.

Companies, Trusts and Deceased Estates

The process becomes more involved when the registered proprietor or purchaser is not an individual. A company buying or selling property generally needs its identity confirmed through a current company search, along with separate verification of the director or authorised officer signing on its behalf. A purchase through a trust adds the trust deed and any deed of appointment of trustee to the list of documents your conveyancer will need to sight, since the person signing has to be shown to have authority to bind the trust. Executors dealing with a deceased estate face a similar layered check, needing their own identity verified as well as evidence of the grant of probate or letters of administration confirming their authority to act. None of this is unusual, but it does mean these transactions typically take a little longer to get through the identity stage than a straightforward individual purchase.