This standard sets ‘safe harbour’ requirements to satisfy a practitioner’s obligations as to (a) client authority and legal capacity, and (b) verifying client identity, in the e-dealing environment. The purpose is to mitigate against wrongful or fraudulent land transactions.
This standard sets out obligations on practitioners to:
- ensure they have proper authority from their client
- take reasonable steps to ensure their client has legal capacity
- verify the identity of their client
- retain the evidence they have relied on to support the certification.
It is made under section 236 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 by the Registrar-General of Land.
The Registrar-General has issued interim guidance related to this Standard and the use of audio-visual methods to complete client A&I forms and ID verification when working remotely.