Identity document validation technology now a reality with Vouch

Letting agents are now able to conduct digital right-to-rent checks on British and Irish citizens using identity document validation technology (IDVT) with Vouch. This is thanks to a new partnership between the Goodlord group and Credas, the industry-leading digital identity service provider.

Right-to-rent legislation changed last year to allow letting agents and landlords in England to use certified identity service providers (IDSPs) to carry out right-to-rent checks on British and Irish citizens remotely on their behalf, through the use of IDVT.

What is IDVT?

IDVT is a way to quickly and easily establish the authenticity of identity documents, such as passports, bio-metric residence permits, driving licences, and identity cards.

Why use IDVT?

IDVT can play an important role in preventing the use of fraudulent documentation in the lettings process. It provides a higher levels of accuracy and assurance than the manual checking of documents by staff who may not be familiar with specific types of ID.

There are a wide variety of documents that prospective tenants can use to establish their identity. When forgeries are submitted to agency staff who are not familiar with the quality of documents, it can be difficult to differentiate them from genuine ones. IDVT can help to save time in the referencing process and money in terms of reducing the level of risk of letting to individuals using fraudulent documents.

IDVT at Vouch

This service is offered as an add-on to its current referencing checks for users of the platforms. Powered by Credas, it includes ID fraud checks, documentation verification, and “liveness detection” checks, which can detect whether a face is real or fake.

The partnership will reduce the amount of time letting agents spend screening tenants while remaining compliant with the latest government guidelines.

Tom Goodman, Managing Director of Vouch, comments:

“The last few years has seen an acceleration in the digitisation of right to rent checks. We know that letting agents, landlords, and tenants have welcomed this as it reduces admin and brings lettings into the 21st century. Our partnership with Credas means we can take this a step further – integrating IDVT with our current referencing process and cutting out the middleman for letting agents.”