In 2025, consumers have come to expect verification processes that are as seamless and instant as the digital services they use daily. The days of driving to their estate agents in person or repeatedly filling out the same forms are fading fast. People now assume that identity verification should be mobile-first, near-instant, and privacy-respecting.
In turn, estate agents and conveyancers have accelerated their adoption of digital ID verification (IDV) in the last two years, largely due to operational pressure and evolving regulatory expectations. Many businesses have moved beyond basic document capture and are now embracing fully digital IDV journeys that include:
● Real-time liveness checks
● NFC chip reading for passports
● Automated anti-money laundering (AML) screening
This adaptation isn’t just about compliance. It’s about reducing transaction delays, improving the customer experience, and ensuring fraud protection. And increasingly, firms are integrating IDV directly into their CRM and case-management systems, allowing for a more seamless verification process built into their own systems.
But looking ahead, how will advancements in digital IDV reshape the way tenants, buyers, and landlords are verified in 2026? What will be the key challenges?
The emergence of reusable compliance
Digital IDV tools have already grown in use and offer companies a faster, safer, and easier method than manually verifying identities. But these platforms are set to be enhanced further. In 2026, reusable compliance will become a breakthrough solution for the property sector, reshaping the way onboarding and IDV are done.
Specifically, we can expect to see the arrival of reusable compliance wallets. These wallets will allow consumers to verify their identity once, as opposed to the current 5.4 times in the home-buying journey, and then share it multiple times throughout different steps. This will fundamentally change the speed of transactions and reduce duplicated effort across the property sector, removing repeat compliance checks and tackling rising fraud risks.
Compliance on the move
Digital wallets mean verification will be significantly more portable, too. Individuals will be able to carry verified credentials with them and selectively share the elements required for a specific transaction, such as proof of ID, age verification, address validation, and proof of funds, without re-verifying each time, as well as allowing PEP/sanctions to be run instantly in real-time.
For estate agents and property lawyers, this will mean:
● Faster onboarding
● Lower risk of fraud
● Greater confidence in the provenance of the verification
● More consistent compliance
Regulatory complexity will be the key compliance challenge
The main challenges for 2026 will revolve around managing increasing regulatory complexity. Regulators are pushing for higher-integrity checks, greater auditability, and demonstrable AML controls.
Fraud sophistication is another major concern. AI-driven identity attacks and deepfake-enabled impersonation attempts will continue to rise as sectors adapt to digitalisation. In a recent study we conducted amongst homeowners, nearly two-thirds of participants said they worry about AI-driven identity theft. Therefore, firms will need robust liveness and document integrity checks that evolve as quickly as the threats.
Key governmental and regulatory changes to look out for in 2026
- The adoption of digital ID
Currently, the government’s strategy is pointing toward interoperable, portable digital identities. Even though we are still awaiting clarity on exactly what the government’s plans are around digital ID and the like, the regulatory environment will increasingly reward solutions that support that broader model.
We expect to see clearer guidance from DSIT and support from HM Treasury for the adoption of reusable digital identities, aligned with the UK’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework and similar EU legislation.
- Greater scrutiny of AML
With the FCA set to take over AML supervision for the legal sector, we anticipate increased scrutiny on how law firms provide evidence of their compliance, shifting from a traditional file-review approach to a more data-led supervisory model. Firms should prepare for this shift by adopting verification processes that are easily auditable and standards-based.
The wallet era: A bold outlook for 2026
Reusable digital identities will become the default expectation for property transactions by the end of 2026. Not mandated, but preferred by consumers, by agents, by lenders, and by conveyancers.
People will expect to verify themselves once and carry that trusted identity with them throughout the transaction, much like a digital passport for homebuyers. And the organisations that embrace this model early will see faster completions, lower fraud exposure, and significantly reduced compliance overhead. We see 2026 as the wallet era.
