Owner only had house for 6months

wavehead

i am purchasing a house at the moment
my solicitor has had to write to the mortgage company to ask permission to see if it still ok to proceed because the owner has been the owner of the property for less than 6 months.

they wrote back asking for a list of questions and the vender is getting annoyed about the type questions they asking

i cant seen to find any information anywhere where you need permission to continue

the vender gettin annoyed cause he doesnt want to answer these questions.

any advice?
does anyone know where mortgage company wouldnt ask these questions?

zappahey

You need to offer a clue as to what sort of questions are being asked or it's impossible to advise.

wavehead

well the vender is a retired solicitor to
1 question was about does he still have his certificate
another was about whether he bought property at arms length
what he payed for it
if he done any work and has a mortgage

mlz1413

Sounds like capital gains tax questions or a dogdy business deal that probably needs tax paying on it.

Your solicitor would be under oath of his profession to advise the relevant government departments if he felt a transaction was not above board.

Shouldn't affect your purchase or your agreed price.

sarah_elton

Since the questions are coming from the mortgage company, they might be worried about money laundering? (would be weird for money launderers to buy property but hey, you never know. And only owning a property for 6 months is pretty strange)

If your mortgage company won't lend to you without the questions being answered, then the vendor doesn't really have much choice (other than to walk away). If your solicitor can find out why the mortgage company need the questions answered, then he/she could at least explain it to the vendor so they understand.

wysiwyg78

As a previous poster has suggested, it sounds like they are trying to ascertain that the vendor isn't attempting to launder money. If he is a retired solicitor then hwe should be used to money laundering regulations. I work for a law firm and we cannot undertake any work without satisfying a lot of rigorous money laundering checks.

If he is so bothered by the questions then I would suggest that he may have something to hide. What is the point in getting annoyed when most mortgage companies will in all probability ask the same questions? I smell a rat...

gizmo111

my solicitor has had to write to the mortgage company to ask permission to see if it still ok to proceed because the owner has been the owner of the property for less than 6 months.

I don't understand - which mortgage company yours or the vendors? If the vendor is money laundering what has that to do with your solicitor? You are paying an agreed price for a property I don't see why how long the vendot has had it is relevant. My house was owned for 5 months when I put in a offer and no checks were made on the vendor. As long as it is his to sell and there is no NE I can't see why your solciitor is checking out the seller.

maninthestreet

wavehead wrote: »

well the vender is a retired solicitor to
1 question was about does he still have his certificate
another was about whether he bought property at arms length
what he payed for it
if he done any work and has a mortgage

What certificate? How do you buy a property at 'arm's length' ??

pinkshoes

I may be stating the obvious here, but I would be VERY suspicious of a property that was bought then sold 6 months later.

Check www.houseprices.co.uk to see what he bought it for.

To me, it's most likely to be unbearable neighbours, or severe underlying problems. Why else (other than odd money laundering) would one sell on a property so quickly??

mlz1413

maninthestreet wrote: »

What certificate? How do you buy a property at 'arm's length' ??

I've only ever come across 'arms length' in business terms, where one business has an interest in other but they buy and sell to each other it has to be shown that it is at arms length, ie not of benefit to one company.

I had assumed the certificate was the retired solicitors and therefore he may have bought the house via the solicitors practise and then maybe trying to sell it for personal gain, (maybe as a retirement present?)

Pee

I can see why you would be annoyed by the questions and he may not have been a conveyancing solicitor and therefore not used to it. It's not a question that gets asked very often as it obviously doesn't apply very often.

Do you know anything about how he came to own the house and why he's selling? For instance, did he inherit it?

I'd take the approach with him that you are sorry they want to make him jump through hoops but that you assume that is mortgage companies. Is your mortgage company a fairly well known main stream one? If not, is it an option to switch to one that is?