How to handle a buyer s documents without exposing yourself

The answer, straight away

The documents a buyer sends you — proof of funds, identity documents, company details — should be collected only if needed, kept in one place, shown to nobody, and deleted after a stated period.

The practical rule that solves most of it: never forward the document. You confirm, in writing, that the check was carried out.

What to ask for and what not

You need to know the funds exist. You do not need to know where they came from, how much else there is, at which bank, under which account number.

So accept redacted documents: balance, date and name are enough. Asking for more than you need exposes you without giving you anything.

Where they must not sit

In messaging apps, which stay on everybody's phone and end up in backups.

In shared office mailboxes.

In synced folders accessible to people with no involvement in that file.

Where they should sit

In a single file per transaction, with access limited to those handling it.

With a deletion date. If the deal does not proceed, those documents have no reason to exist.

What to tell the buyer before they send them

Who will see them, where they will stay, for how long, and what happens if no purchase follows.

Three lines in an email, and they turn an intrusive request into a professional procedure. People who do this receive the documents far more easily.

The case of the owner who wants to see them

It happens, and it is understandable. The answer is that you confirm the verification in writing and take responsibility for it.

Passing a buyer's bank documents to a seller is not transparency: it is something that buyer never authorised.

And on the other side: the seller's data

The same applies. The address, the interior photographs, the property documents are the owner's information, and the instruction should say who may receive them.

The question that holds all of this together is always the same: if this went out tomorrow, had I been authorised?