When you go to buy a house, before you do so you will need to make sure that you have not only the money required, but also that you can prove that you are who you say you are. First of all, for most people, when you want to buy a property, you need to go to a mortgage lender where you will then be able to take out a mortgage.
This is a loan that you will pay back over a number of years and will allow you to buy the property. However, in order to crack down on criminal activity, when you go to apply for this, the lender is required to check that you are who you say you are, doing a process that is known as an AML ID check.
This is done to prevent the problem of money laundering, as it means that it is much harder for criminals to get away with using alias names and addresses as many did in the past.
Once you have found a property that you want to go ahead and buy, the estate agent will ask you to provide proof that you can buy the property and also to prove how you have the money. If it is that you applied for a mortgage and had it approved, the mortgage lender will be able to confirm this for you in a letter to the estate agent.
If you are a cash buyer, then you will probably need to provide bank statements and paperwork that proves where the cash that you have to buy the property came from.