Money laundering checks

[kyleporter]

Im in the process of buying a house in Scotland and my solicitor needs to do the money laundering checks.

How are these checks carried out??

[Lance]

In my case the deposit was from a house sale so the path from solicitor to bank was very clear and is sorted quickly. If a large sum of cash 'appears' in your bank they will want to know where it came from and trace its paper trail to a satisfactory source. If your deposit is a suitcase full of used tenners it may take a it longer.

[kingstreet]

Originally Posted by kyleporter

Im in the process of buying a house in Scotland and my solicitor needs to do the money laundering checks.

How are these checks carried out??

Are these checks on the source of your deposit, or checks on your identity?

Both can be required to satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations.

[FireWyrm]

Checks on your identity will require you to produce some photographic evidence like a driving licence or a passport.

Checks on the money are a little harder, but essentially, they just want to know that the money came to you legitimately and that someone somewhere gave the government their cut along the way. It's nothing to do with 'money laundering', that's just what they tell the hoi poloi.

They'll also do a bankruptcy check on you at some point. Gave me a heart attack because there is someone out there with the same name and date or birth as me. Thankfully, she lives in Liverpool, but it caused a few moments of panic until the solicitor did some other check and confirmed my explanation.

[maryroberts]

My solicitor asked to see my passport (sent original by Special Delivery as not near office), and a copy of my bank statement showing when & where the lump sum came from. In my case it was from a property sale abroad and was a bit complicated on paper as 2 transfers were involved from foreign accounts. I explained the whole situation and my solicitor was absolutely fine with this. I expected to be asked for even more documents, such as the house sale contract, which is in Greek.... but this wasn't necessary.

Therefore I would say don't worry - as long as you can show the funds entering your bank statement (not cash!) you should be fine!

[kyleporter]

The problem I think might come up is I was gifted the deposit from my uncle and he just gave me a cheque that shows as 10000 goin into my account

[dizziblonde]

Originally Posted by kyleporter

The problem I think might come up is I was gifted the deposit from my uncle and he just gave me a cheque that shows as 10000 goin into my account

Our deposit was a combination of wedding present money, and a gift from the in-laws - it didn't raise any issues on the checks and that was only a year and a bit ago.

[norbet]

This Money Laundering requirement has me extremely worried too as I really can't see how we can demonstrate where our deposit is coming from without providing bank statements for the last six years or so.
All but 5k of our 24k deposit is from savings over time from various accounts, some of which have since been closed. We also have a £5k "gift" from my father, will we need to prove up how he's accumulated the £5k? We've asked our solictor how we need to prove how our deposit has been sourced, but I fear it may be very difficult.
It all seems incredibly invasive.

[vuvuzela]

Originally Posted by norbet

This Money Laundering requirement has me extremely worried too as I really can't see how we can demonstrate where our deposit is coming from without providing bank statements for the last six years or so.
All but 5k of our 24k deposit is from savings over time from various accounts, some of which have since been closed. We also have a £5k "gift" from my father, will we need to prove up how he's accumulated the £5k? We've asked our solictor how we need to prove how our deposit has been sourced, but I fear it may be very difficult.
It all seems incredibly invasive.

I doubt you will have a problem with this at all and I really wouldn't worry. Your father might need to sign that the money is indeed a gift tho.

[dawyldthing]

i wrote it all down on the back of an envelope where it has come from and how and she said that was fine (as i thought i'd need to write it on proper paper, but she just stapled the envelope to my paperwork side.) Also had to show bank statements, Wage slip and passport to prove it is actually me (bit like when applying for jobs, but spending money instead)

[pinkteapot]

Originally Posted by kyleporter

The problem I think might come up is I was gifted the deposit from my uncle and he just gave me a cheque that shows as 10000 goin into my account

Part of our deposit was a gift from parents. They had to write a letter to the solicitor saying that it was a gift, not a loan. Well, I wrote the letter - they signed it and posted it.

[wastedtalent]

Originally Posted by norbet

This Money Laundering requirement has me extremely worried too as I really can't see how we can demonstrate where our deposit is coming from without providing bank statements for the last six years or so.
All but 5k of our 24k deposit is from savings over time from various accounts, some of which have since been closed. We also have a £5k "gift" from my father, will we need to prove up how he's accumulated the £5k? We've asked our solictor how we need to prove how our deposit has been sourced, but I fear it may be very difficult.
It all seems incredibly invasive.

Mine was all built up over time from saving, just showed them a statement covering last 12 months, and they were fine with that.

[norbet]

Thanks all for the advice, I'll type up a letter for my Dad to sign and they can have statements for last 12 months - hopefully that will suffice.