Is Photo ID Required at Your Property Inspections?

Every weekend, thousands of vendors and landlords open up their homes for inspections, allowing potential buyers and tenants to take a tour of their property and get a good feel for the place. While this is a great way for prospects to check out key features, unfortunately these open homes are also a good way for opportunists to benefit as well. We look at why requesting photo ID may combat these issues.

 

Prevent unwanted criminal activity by asking for photo ID

It’s been widely documented that thieves target open homes to steal small concealable valuables that are left out on display, such as jewellery and hand-held devices, while it’s also known that thieves can case the property, assessing the level of security for future raids.

 

Protect your personal information

Personal identity theft is also a common crime experienced at open home inspections, with thieves stealing information from personal items like mail, bank statements and photographs that can offer valuable information. Wall calendars can also reveal the owners movements – priceless details for a thief!

 

Preventative measures

In response to these risks, it’s extremely important for real estate agents to put in place good security measures to prevent such thefts. Collating contact details for all attendees prior to entering an open home and enforcing photo identification at the actual event is a great way of cracking down on rogue house inspectors.

At present, there doesn’t appear to be any mandate from State or National Real Estate industry bodies to enforce this requirement, however Consumer Affairs Victoria states ‘you may be asked for proof of identity as a security measure. It is not a legal requirement, but sellers can make this a condition of entry to their property.’

Major real estate agency, Barry Plant, which holds over 1000 inspections a week across Victoria, introduced a compulsory ‘no photo ID, no entry’ policy and sticks to it firmly, while other major agencies, such as Ray White, Stockdale and Leggo, also endorse a strict photo ID policy.

So if you are thinking of selling your home, what other steps can both vendors and agents take to deter thieves? For agents, it’s essential that they discuss security with their vendors before the open home, while, for the vendor, it is vital that they remove or lock away all valuables and hide any personal information. Also, if you can have someone you trust present at the open home, this will be an enormous benefit and deterrent.

Interestingly, loss or property damage incurred as a result of an open home treads a murky insurance path as not all home insurance policies cover this, so it is worth discussing this with your insurance company before inviting potential buyers in.

 

How can Plezzel help?

Our open homes app is a flexible booking solution that can be customised to meet each agent’s needs. Our app tracks ever potential buyer or tenant that has been invited to the open, allowing the agent to precisely monitor the number of people attending. Recently, one of our clients had over 50 people confirmed at an inspection and was able to bring in extra staff to manage the crowds thanks to our app keeping them abreast of the action.

Attendees who have been invited will be expected to come prepared with photo ID, helping the agent to enforce their security policy as they tick each person off their attendee list.

Our app also assists a number of our clients in property management who don’t publish inspection dates or times, but prefer to invite only those people who enquire on the property, and in turn, keeping a secure track of prospects details.