An estate agent at a branch office desk in the evening, glancing at a phone glowing with a soft shield-and-checkmark motif, an ID card and laptop on the desk beside him
Live · AML Checks · Free by default

Identity checks that bill the client, not your branch.

Send an ID check from the dashboard, the client verifies on their own phone, and a certificate lands stored against the deal. It's free by default — or flip it to bill the client and the cost never reaches your branch's books.

Free
By default, every account
10
Applicants per request, grouped
On their phone
No app for the client to install
5 yrs
Certificate retained for your audit trail

How it works

Six steps from name to stored certificate.

Nothing about the check itself changes whether it's free or client-charged — the only difference is who pays before step three.

1

Add the applicant, or up to ten

Name, email and an optional phone number for each person. Send up to 10 applicants in one request — a buyer and a seller on the same deal go out together and stay grouped in your dashboard, with a reference note if you want one attached.

2

Choose free, or bill the client

Every check is free by default — home.co.uk covers it. Or switch to client-charged and set a fee from £1 to £1,000; the client sees the amount in their invite and pays before verification starts. You can flip a check between the two right up until it's paid or submitted.

3

Invite sent, payment collected if charged

The applicant gets an email with a secure verification link. If you're billing the client, they pay by card on a hosted Stripe Checkout page first — verification can't begin until that's settled, so the payment gate does the chasing for you.

4

The client verifies on their own phone

No app to install. From the link, they photograph a passport or driving licence and take a short selfie, run through identity-verification technology that checks the document and matches the face to it. Sanctions and PEP watchlist screening runs in the same session.

5

The result lands on your dashboard

Approved, declined, or flagged for your review — you and the client are both notified. A clean approval needs nothing further from you; a flagged result shows the same report so you can decide, and record a note if you decline.

6

Certificate generated and stored on the check

A branded PDF certificate is put together automatically — document result, facial-similarity result, watchlist screening outcome — and stored against the check for your file. Download it, or let your client download their own copy.

From the branch to the file

Invite. Verify. Stored.

Three steps between a name in your dashboard and a certificate on the deal.

An estate agent's hand tapping send on a phone at a branch office desk, a soft envelope-and-shield glow lifting from the screen

1 · From the branch

Invite sent

Name and email in, an invite out — with a payment line attached if you're billing the client.

A couple at their kitchen table in the evening, one holding up a phone to photograph their own face for identity verification, a passport on the table

2 · On the client's phone

Client completes it themselves

Document photo, a selfie, done from the sofa. No app, no branch visit, no scanner.

An estate agent at a branch office desk late in the evening, studying a laptop screen showing a document sealed with a checkmark badge

3 · Back at the branch

Result and certificate stored

A verdict, a report and a branded certificate — filed against the deal, not your inbox.

Under the bonnet

One check. Two ways to pay for it.

Both diagrams show an illustrative example, not a live check — the shapes are what actually happens behind your dashboard.

Invite
sent
Client
verifies
Certificate
stored
Onfido verification session Document check · Facial match · Watchlist clear

Every check, the same three moves

An invite goes out, the client verifies themselves on their own phone, and a certificate lands stored against the check — whether it's free or client-charged. The document check, facial match and watchlist screening all run in the same session before a verdict comes back.

Client pays at checkout £75.00
home.co.uk fee · 10% · £7.50 Your branch · £67.50
home.co.uk platform fee
Your Stripe balance
£0 invoiced to the branch — the client's own payment covers both the check and the fee

Client pays, branch pays nothing

On a client-charged check, the fee you set is paid up front via Stripe Checkout. A tiered platform fee — 15% under £50, 10% between £50 and £99.99, 5% at £100 and above — is taken from that same payment, and the rest transfers straight to your branch's Stripe balance. Nothing is billed to the branch separately, on this check or any other.

A shelf of branded document folders in a British estate agent office at dusk, one folder glowing softly with a shield motif

Not another PDF in your inbox. One certificate, filed against the deal it belongs to.

Free by default

A legal requirement shouldn't have a price tag.

AML identity checks aren't optional for a regulated deal — they're a legal requirement your branch can't get out of. Every home.co.uk agent account gets the full check included at no charge, on any plan, with no catch and no time limit.

It's the same regulated check either way: the biometric document verification, the facial-similarity match, sanctions and PEP watchlist screening, and a certificate kept for your audit trail. Billing the client is an option you switch on when you want it — never a downgrade if you don't.

Free

home.co.uk absorbs the verification cost, no monthly limit

Client-charged

You set the fee, the client pays first, the branch is never invoiced

Same regulated check, same certificate, same audit trail — you just decide who pays.

What's in the certificate

Everything your file actually needs.

Not just an approved/declined stamp — the working behind the verdict, on one branded PDF.

Document check result

Document type, issuing country and authority, with any chip-based checks the document supports where available.

Facial-similarity result

The selfie-to-document match outcome from the client's own verification session — no separate photo ID check needed.

Sanctions and PEP screening

Watchlist result and, where a name matches, the detail behind it — nationality, aliases and source — so you can tell a false positive from a real hit.

Branded PDF, generated automatically

No template to fill in — the certificate assembles itself the moment a check reaches a verdict, ready to download or attach to the file.

Stored against the deal

Held against the check it belongs to, grouped with any other applicants on the same deal, and retained for your audit trail.

Your review, on anything flagged

A near-match or an inconclusive result comes to you for review rather than auto-declining — you approve or decline it, with a note if you decline.

Before the deal can proceed

The compliance chase, rebuilt.

The old way

  • Ask the client to bring photo ID into the branch, or email a scan back and forth
  • Check a sanctions list separately, by hand or through a different paid tool
  • Absorb the cost of a third-party checking tool, or invoice the client separately and chase payment
  • File the result wherever it happens to land — a shared drive, an inbox, a printed copy

With AML Checks

  • Send the invite from your dashboard — the client verifies on their own phone, no branch visit needed
  • Sanctions and PEP screening runs automatically in the same session as the ID check
  • Free by default, or the client pays through Stripe Checkout before verification even starts
  • A branded certificate lands stored on the check itself, ready when you need it

A day in the life

Two applicants, one deal, no chasing.

How a branch admin clears AML on a sale without leaving her desk.

09:10

A sale goes under offer

Meera runs compliance for a two-branch agency in Surrey. A sale just went under offer — the seller needs verifying, and once the buyer is confirmed later that day, they will too.

09:14

Seller invited, free by default

She adds the seller's name and email, leaves it free, attaches the property reference, and sends. The seller's invite lands in their inbox within seconds.

13:40

The buyer is confirmed — billed this time

A cash buyer confirms after lunch. Meera adds them to the same deal, this time switching to client-charged at £45 — a branch policy for buyers on higher-value sales. The buyer pays by card before their verification link goes live.

By mid-afternoon

  • The seller's check comes back approved, certificate stored automatically

Just after

  • The buyer's watchlist screening flags a near-match name for review
15:05
2 for 2

applicants cleared on the same deal

Meera opens the flagged result, checks the nationality and date of birth against the watchlist match, confirms it's a namesake, and approves it. Both certificates now sit against the file — no scanner, no separate invoice, no chasing anyone for a copy of their passport.

15:06

The buyer's £45 lands, minus the platform fee

£4.50 goes to home.co.uk's platform fee, £40.50 lands in the branch's Stripe balance. Meera never raised an invoice, and the branch was never billed for the check itself.

Who it's for

Built for whoever owns compliance.

The sole agent

One less admin job on a Friday

No compliance officer, no separate tool subscription. Send the invite, let the client do the rest on their phone, and the certificate is simply there when the solicitor asks for it.

The branch manager

A margin decision, not a cost

Leave it free for every applicant, or set a branch policy to bill higher-value buyers — either way the platform fee comes out of the client's payment, never the branch's account.

The compliance lead

One place every negotiator uses

Every check across every branch lands in the same dashboard with the same certificate format — no negotiator improvising their own process, no result stuck in a personal inbox.

What this tool is, and isn't

A verification record. Not a compliance guarantee.

AML Checks runs a biometric document check, a facial-similarity match and sanctions/PEP watchlist screening, and keeps a certificate stored against the deal. It doesn't constitute legal advice, doesn't replace your branch's own risk-based AML policy, and doesn't file anything with HMRC or your supervisory body on your behalf. Reviewing a flagged result and deciding what your firm's policy requires stays your professional judgement.

Identity verification, not legal advice A record kept for your file, not a filed report You approve every flagged verdict

Time, illustrated

What the compliance chase used to cost you.

An illustrative example, not a measured benchmark — your own branch's routine will vary.

Task Manual process AML Checks
Collect photo ID from the client In branch, or emailed scans back and forth Client photographs it themselves, from the invite link
Confirm it's really them Visual comparison by eye, or nothing at all Facial-similarity match against the document
Check sanctions and PEP lists Separate tool, or skipped under time pressure Runs automatically in the same session
Cover the cost Branch absorbs a third-party tool fee, or invoices separately Free by default, or billed to the client through Checkout
File the result Wherever it lands — inbox, drive, printout Certificate stored automatically against the check

FAQ

Common questions about AML Checks

Is AML Checks actually free?

Yes, by default. Every home.co.uk agent account gets identity verification included at no charge — home.co.uk absorbs the cost, on any plan, with no catch and no time limit. You can also switch a check to bill the client instead, before the client starts verifying.

What does the check actually verify?

A biometric document check on a passport or driving licence, a facial-similarity match against a selfie taken on the client's own phone, and sanctions and politically-exposed-person (PEP) watchlist screening. All three run as part of the same verification session.

How does bill-the-client actually work?

When you create a check you choose free or client-charged, and set a fee between £1 and £1,000. If you charge the client, they pay by card through a secure Stripe Checkout page before verification begins. A tiered platform fee (15% under £50, 10% between £50 and £99.99, 5% at £100 and above) is deducted from that payment; the remainder is transferred to your branch's Stripe account. Nothing is invoiced to the branch separately.

Do I need my own Stripe account to charge clients?

You need a Stripe Connect Express account, which the tool sets up for you. If your branch already has a linked Motus partner Stripe account it's connected automatically; otherwise Stripe's own onboarding takes a few minutes. Once connected, you can open your Stripe Express dashboard from the AML Checks page at any time to review payouts.

Can I check more than one person on the same deal?

Yes. You can send up to 10 applicants in a single request — a buyer and seller together, for example — and they're grouped so you can see every result for that deal in one place.

What happens if someone doesn't pass?

Not every result is a clean pass or a clean fail. A check can come back approved, declined, or flagged for your review — for instance a near-match on a watchlist that needs a human look. You see the same underlying report either way and decide, adding a note if you decline.

Where is the certificate stored, and for how long?

A branded PDF certificate is generated automatically once a check reaches a verdict, stored against that check, and downloadable by you or your client at any time. It's retained for your audit trail.

Does the client need to download an app?

No. Verification runs in the client's own mobile browser from the link in their invite email — no app to install, no account to set up beyond confirming their details.

What if the client has already been verified through another branch on home.co.uk?

If the same email address has a previously approved verification, the new check is recognised and auto-approved without asking the client to go through the process again.

Can I switch a check between free and client-charged?

Yes, up until the point it's paid for or submitted. You can move a free check to client-charged before the client starts verifying, and move a client-charged check back to free while it's still unpaid — useful if a client is reluctant to pay and you'd rather absorb it. Once paid or submitted, the terms lock.

Is this a guarantee that my branch is AML compliant?

No. AML Checks runs the identity verification, biometric matching and sanctions/PEP screening, and keeps a stored certificate for your file. It doesn't constitute legal advice, doesn't replace your branch's own risk-based AML policy, and doesn't submit anything to HMRC or your supervisory body on your behalf. Deciding what your firm's policy requires in any given case remains your professional judgement.

Can I delete a check I created by mistake?

Yes, as long as it hasn't been submitted by the client or paid for. Once a verdict has been submitted, or the client has paid, the check is locked and can no longer be deleted — it stays as a permanent record.

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