How Long Does a VOI Last? The Two-Year Rule, and When to Re-Verify

The short answer: a verification of identity supports a conveyancing transaction for two years from the date of the face-to-face interview. The long answer is where firms get into trouble — because the clock starts on a date almost nobody records in a place anybody checks, and the moment a lapsed VOI usually surfaces is the week of settlement. Here's how the two-year rule works, when a fresh VOI is required, and how to stop expiry dates ambushing your matters.

How long does a VOI last?

Under the VOI Standard — Schedule 8 of the ARNECC Model Participation Rules — a verification of identity remains available to support a conveyancing transaction for two years. That period runs from the date of the face-to-face interview: the day the practitioner (or their agent) actually sat across from the client, sighted the original documents, and confirmed the person in front of them was a reasonable likeness to the photographs on those documents.

When does the two-year clock start?

From the interview date. Not the date the file was opened, not the date the certificate was signed off, not the date the Client Authorisation was executed — the day the client sat in front of the verifier. This matters in practice because those dates can be days or weeks apart, and if your file records only "VOI done ✓" without the interview date itself, you cannot actually compute when it lapses. A surprising number of firms are in exactly this position: the VOI was done properly, the documents were sighted, the certificate is in the file — and nobody can say, without digging, which day the clock started.

What does the VOI Standard actually require?

Worth restating, because the currency period only attaches to a VOI that met the Standard in the first place. Schedule 8 requires:

• A face-to-face, in-person interview with the person being verified;
• Sighting of original documents from an acceptable category — see our companion guide on which documents are acceptable, category by category;
• A reasonable-likeness check — the verifier confirming the person presenting is a reasonable likeness to the photographs in the documents produced.

If any of those was skipped, the question isn't "is the VOI still current?" — it's whether it was ever a Standard-compliant VOI at all. For a full walkthrough of the process, see our verification of identity guide for conveyancers.

Do I need a new VOI for every matter?

Not necessarily. If a client you verified 14 months ago comes back to sell another property, that VOI is still within its two-year currency and can support the new transaction. This is one of the quiet efficiencies of the two-year rule: a repeat client verified properly once doesn't need to sit through the interview again for every matter — provided you can actually put your hands on the certificate and the interview date, and confirm it won't lapse before the matter completes.

That proviso is doing a lot of work. Which brings us to the failure mode.

What if the VOI has lapsed — or will lapse before settlement?

Two distinct situations:

The VOI has already lapsed

For a new matter, the safe course is simple: conduct a fresh VOI. A new face-to-face interview, original documents sighted again, a new certificate on the file, and a new two-year clock. It costs one meeting; it removes the question entirely.

The VOI will lapse mid-matter

A matter opened in month 22 of a VOI's currency can still be running when the two years tick over. Where the practitioner is still acting under the Client Authorisation that was signed at the time of the original VOI, continued reliance may be open under the current Participation Rules — but this is precisely the kind of point on which practitioners should check their own position under the rules and any program they operate under, rather than assume. Positions differ, rules are updated, and "we thought it carried over" is not a sentence you want to be saying to an examiner. When in doubt, the answer that is never wrong is the fresh VOI.

Why do firms keep getting caught out?

Because almost nobody tracks VOI dates as dates. The certificate goes in the matter file, the matter settles, the file closes — and the VOI's remaining currency becomes invisible. When the client returns eighteen months later, whoever opens the new file has to remember the old VOI exists, find it, read the interview date off the certificate, and do the arithmetic. Every step in that chain is a place the check silently doesn't happen. Firms don't fail the two-year rule because it's complicated; they fail it because paper files and practice-management notes don't produce reminders.

A workable tracking system needs four things:

• The interview date recorded as structured data, not just printed on a PDF in a closed file;
• A firm-wide view — not per-matter — of every verification and when it lapses;
• A forward warning far enough ahead of the lapse date to actually book a face-to-face interview;
• A nudge that arrives without anyone remembering to look.

How CompliDesk tracks VOI currency

This is exactly the problem the CompliDesk VOI tool was built around. CompliDesk records the face-to-face interview date at the time of the check and computes the two-year currency from it automatically. Every verification in the firm appears on one list, ordered by soonest lapse, so the next expiry is always at the top — no per-matter archaeology. Anything lapsing within roughly three months is flagged, and a weekly digest email lists lapsed and lapsing verifications, so the warning lands in an inbox whether or not anyone thought to check.

Each completed check is $10, and produces a certificate PDF on demand — plus a one-file examination pack if you're ever asked to show your workings. One thing to be clear about: CompliDesk VOI is a recording and tracking tool for face-to-face verification, the kind Schedule 8 describes. It is not a remote VOI product, and it does not run document or biometric database checks — the interview, the sighting, and the likeness check are yours; CompliDesk makes sure they're captured, dated, and never silently expire.

Quick answers

How long is a VOI valid in Australia?

Two years from the date of the face-to-face interview, under Schedule 8 of the ARNECC Model Participation Rules.

Does a VOI expire?

Yes — after two years it has lapsed. For a new matter after that point, the safe course is a fresh VOI.

Can I reuse a VOI for a second transaction?

A VOI that is still within its two-year currency can support a further conveyancing transaction — check that it won't lapse before the matter completes.

Do I need a new VOI if the old one lapses during the matter?

Where you are still acting under the Client Authorisation signed at the time of the original VOI, continued reliance may be open under the current Participation Rules — but check your own rules and program position rather than assuming. A fresh VOI is always the safe answer.

This article is general information for Australian conveyancers and property lawyers, not legal advice. Check the current Participation Rules and your own program position for your jurisdiction.

Related reading: Verification of identity — the complete guide for conveyancers · VOI acceptable documents by category · How VOI works in CompliDesk · CompliDesk for conveyancers