---
id: KB-CL-016
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/collaboration/when-the-other-party-is-a-person-not-a-company
idioma: en
categoria: colaboracion
subcategoria: externos
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CL-012, KB-CC-012, KB-CL-014, KB-CL-018]
citadoPor: [KB-CC-017]
---

# When the other party is a person, not a company

_An employee, a tenant, a patient or a private customer does not behave like a supplier, and should not be treated like one._

**Responde a:** requesting documents from a private individual · signing with consumers · the employee will not sign what i send · tenant or patient documentation

Almost everything that works with suppliers can be applied to individuals, but four differences change the outcome. Ignoring them explains most cases where a process that ran beautifully with companies stalls with private individuals.

## The four differences

| With a company | With a person |
| --- | --- |
| Someone's job is to answer you | Answering you is nobody's job |
| Email is read during working hours | The phone is checked at any hour, email almost never |
| They know what the documents are and where | They may not know exactly what you are asking for |
| The data belongs to the company | The data is theirs, and that changes your obligations |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The fourth carries the most consequences and gets the least thought. When the other party is a person, what they supply is **their** personal data: ask only for what is needed, say what for, and do not keep it longer than necessary. Over-asking "just in case" is awkward with a company; with a person it is a decision you answer for.

## What changes in practice

1. **The channel** — A phone message works far better than email, and is often the only one read.
2. **The wording** — Document names they recognise: "your ID, both sides", not "identifying documentation".
3. **The effort expectation** — If they must register or install something, half give up. By their link, with no account, they do not.
4. **And the tone of chasing** — Two spaced reminders, not five: with individuals, over-chasing burns the relationship rather than speeding it up.

> [!WARNING]
> The commonest mistake is reusing the supplier template with four words changed. Text that looks normal to an accountancy firm — "you are required to submit the requisite documentation within the stated period" — reads to an individual as bureaucracy or outright fraud, and they do not reply. And when they do not, the conclusion is usually that they "are not cooperating", when the problem was the message.

## What should stay the same

**En corto**

- That what they supply enters the file, not someone's personal inbox.
- That there is a record of what was asked, when, and what arrived.
- And that signing happens through a route that leaves evidence, not an "ok" by message.

That last one protects both sides: in a relationship with an individual, proof of what they accepted and when is as useful to them as to you.

> [!NOTE]
> If you will handle documentation for many people — staff, tenants, patients, students — decide beforehand what is kept and for how long. It is the part that cannot be fixed afterwards and the one that weighs most if someone exercises their rights.

**Can I remind them on WhatsApp?**

If you have a basis to use that channel with that person, yes, and it usually works much better.

**What if they send the photo by messaging?**

Upload it to the file: what cannot happen is it living only on someone's phone.

**Do they need to create an account?**

No, and that is exactly what to avoid: they enter by their link and supply or sign.

## Ejemplos

**A letting agency uses its supplier template with tenants and nobody replies.**

- Rewrites the request with document names people recognise
- Sends by phone and leaves two spaced reminders

→ Tenant documentation arrives in days instead of weeks, with no phone calls.

**Documentation is requested from a sole trader in the same tone and volume as from a hundred-person company.**

- Requests the minimum that meets the requirement
- Explains in one line what each item is for
- Gives them somewhere to upload without registering

→ The sole trader delivers the same day instead of giving up for not knowing where to start.

**They are sent a portal with registration and never get in.**

- Sends the direct link with no account

→ They deliver without friction.

**Nine documents are requested at once.**

- Requests two and adds the rest later

→ The first attempt completes.

**They are written to in large-company jargon.**

- Writes as you would speak to them on the phone

→ The message is understood without a call.

**Reminders arrive daily and they feel hounded.**

- Spaces out the cadence

→ The relationship does not suffer.

**They send a photo of the document from their phone.**

- Accepts the photo if it reads and records it

→ The delivery counts and the file moves on.

**A document that does not exist in their case is requested.**

- Checks what applies to a sole trader before asking

→ The impossible is not chased.