has my solicitor messed up?

pinkie84

Hello,

I'm in the process of buying a house and have been really disappointed with my conveyancer.

I was hoping to exchange / complete this week and have been chasing my solicitor for confirmation of this for weeks and weeks with very vague responses.

Late last week her assistant emailed me stating that everything was being held up becuase i hadnt notified them that my deposit was to be a gift from my parents... and that this would delay completion whilst they sorted things with my lenders. She also said that the sellers were [FONT=&quot]not prepared to wait until January for completion to take place. This is the first indication i have had regarding when the sellers would like to move... despite me asking almost on a daily basis.[/FONT]


The issue this causes is that I am going away for 3 weeks very soon and had told my solicitor that after the end of next week it would be difficult to complete before xmas due to this.

My solicitor has implied that this was my fault for not knowing (as a first time buyer) that I had to explicitly tell her that the deposit is a gift, and has also suggested that my broker didnt pass on the information to the lender. however, It was noted on the mortgage application form which I completed with my broker, and as far as I know that is the same information that was passed on to the lender.

No one from the conveyancing firm asked me where my deposit was coming from, they just asked the amount, so i wasnt aware this was important.

I am concerned now that everything is going to fall through at the last minute because the solicitor didnt check this information with me right at the start of the process.

Can any one advise?

thank you...

matthorp

Did you declare it was a gifted deposit on your mortgage application?

pinkie84

Yes it was declared on the application that i completed with my broker, however the mortgage company are claiming that they werent aware of it. The broker is looking into this since we definitely included this information

geoffky

Does your lender allow gifted deposit? as many do not..you could struggle here..

pinkie84

Really? Most first time buyers i know have had their deposit gifted to them by parents etc...

According to the website:
The accepted forms of deposit include:

• Personal savings
• Equity from sale of property
• Gift from a relative
• Inheritance
• We may ask you for the source as well as proof you have your deposit when you make your application.

I really dont understand what has gone wrong here?

Lovelyjoolz

I suspect your conveyencer has screwed up here. I've just gone through the process (complete tomorrow - yay!) and one of the very first things my solicitor asked me, within a day or so of the offer being accepted, is how I intended to fund the purchase. I had to sign a form stating this and provide bank statements going back several months showing the deposit building up in my savings.

Are you using a solicitor or just a conveyancer? Do they know what they are doing?

pinkie84

I am not sure, it is a solicitors firm and she works in the conveyancing department.

Lovelyjoolz

Sounds like she should be a solicitor, but not necessarily. Sorry this has happened.

What paperwork have you completed so far? If you were expecting to exchange this week, you should be 99% ready by now. Have the contracts been completed and signed / fixtures & fittings forms been completed / Mortgage offer been received?

Is it possible that your solicitors haven't gotten very far and are covering their !!!!!s here?

pinkie84

I think i have all the paperwork, certainly all the documents you've listed. Contracts were completed and signed about 2 weeks ago, and i have the mortgage offer, and fixture and fittings form.

I was literally just waiting for a date to start transferring the money...

Lovelyjoolz

That being the case, I would ask them when they were planning on asking you to prove where the moeny was coming from. They have to do this by law to check for money laundering.

I think they've dropped a b$#%*&k here and are trying to make you think it's your mistake. They should have checked this right at the begining.

Can you call and ask to speak with a senior partner? Ask them when in the proceedings should they have done the money laundering checks and then tell them what has happened in your case.

In any case, its a simple matter to rectify and shouldn't take more than a few hours to put right. You need to go in to their office with a copy of your parent's bank statement (and possibly take your paretns with you) showing the funds are there to be used, complete their form and sign it. Job done.

Yorkie1

It might be a bit more complicated than that. My parents had to write a letter to the solicitor, confirming that they had had the opportunity to take independent legal advice / chosen not to do so, and that the money was a gift to me.

Others on here have said that their solicitor required their parents to sign an affidavit or something equally legal to the same effect. Could take another couple of days.

OP needs to double check with their broker whether there are parallel delays with the mortgage lender if they are now saying that they didn't know about the gift, and have to re-underwrite the offer.

It is possible that the solicitor is only now raising this solely because the lender has raised it (as the solicitor will also act for the lender).

I agree the solicitor seems to have made a mistake but don't focus entirely on this at this moment, in case you drop the ball with other elements of the problem.