Proof of funds-cash buying a house-any advice

Frozen_up_north

Which law states you have to use a solicitor to buy/sell a house? There is a form to fill in for HM Revenue and Customs, probably covering capital gains tax, if that isn't sufficient tell the vendor you will take your money elsewhere and see if they really want to sell the house or not.

It's a buyers market...

hermanmunster_3

I just sat in front of my solicitor and told her the funds came from "drug dealing and robbing a bank.... oh and a bit of savings etc etc".

She just went on to the next question...

kingstreet

The solicitor/lender/broker's job in the Money Laundering regulations is to obtain documentation which would assist the police in creating an audit trail to verify the source of funds and its legitimacy, or otherwise.

It is not our job to decide if someone is laundering money. We simply add to the available information and report suspicions, should we have any.

Each organisation chooses how much information to obtain within the guidelines. Some require more, others less.

Wanting to see funds build up, rather than an account opening with a sizeable sum within the last few months may be an issue where the lender wishes to establish the deposit is saved and not from a loan. It may not be a ML issue.

counting_the_pennies

I want to thank everyone who has shared their thoughts and experiences here. I have finally, after supplying a letter from my bank (HSBC-who were very supportive, helpful, kind) saying that I had been saving with them since 1990, I had a letter from the solicitors saying they didn't need to see any further evidence so problem solved Wow, it was so frustrating and intrusive!!:)

Swimmer1961

counting_the_pennies wrote: »

Hi,
After saving for years plus a few shareholder dividends I had enough to buy a small property. The conveyancer asked for proof of funds and I sent a bank statement. I then received a letter asking for 6 months of statements so they could see how the money had accrued. I supplied these and have just had a letter asking for more so that they can see how the 'opening balance' of the 6 month old statement was achieved. This could go on as the money has mounted up slowly over more than a decade. Is this really neccessary/usual. Why can't one statement showing proof of funds be sufficient? I feel slightly aggrieved.:(

The actual problem here is money laundering. We have been in the business of buying and selling houses for 14 years and the rules and regulations have just simply got tighter. I am afraid conveyancers and mortgage companies alike are stringently monitores by the FSA - Financail Service Authority. You are best just going along with their requests - if you object they will dig even deeper. Good luck!

Dan-Dan

What about an inheritance....example , my wife and i stand to inherit half a house....once sold , the money would be paid to me , because the task of getting a mortgage would be mine (even though the blood relative is my wife) , sole applicant , we would hope to use the same family solicitor who is dealing with our affaisrs currently (the donors will etc) to help us with coneyencing....is that enough of a trail ? and i used a seperate solicitor , how would i prove the trail ?

tim123456789

G_M wrote: »

Money laundering rules have titghtened up considerably.

But even so it is not the job of a financial advisor to decide whether the funds are dodgy, only to report them if they meet certain criteria.

tim

arbrighton

Swimmer1961 wrote: »

The actual problem here is money laundering. We have been in the business of buying and selling houses for 14 years and the rules and regulations have just simply got tighter. I am afraid conveyancers and mortgage companies alike are stringently monitores by the FSA - Financail Service Authority. You are best just going along with their requests - if you object they will dig even deeper. Good luck!

Why have you titled this post Andrew?
Why are you dragging up an old post where the issue was sold?
Why are you stating the blinking obvious?

dotdash79

Dan-Dan wrote: »

What about an inheritance....example , my wife and i stand to inherit half a house....once sold , the money would be paid to me , because the task of getting a mortgage would be mine (even though the blood relative is my wife) , sole applicant , we would hope to use the same family solicitor who is dealing with our affaisrs currently (the donors will etc) to help us with coneyencing....is that enough of a trail ? and i used a seperate solicitor , how would i prove the trail ?

I used the same solicitor who managed my mums house sale from the estate and held the will. He didn't need proof of where the deposit came from as he knew.

If you used a different solicitor then he could contact the solictor from the estate and pass on the case file this will be enough for most.

Richard_Webster

Savings over time are always a problem because we are required to check the source of funds - much easier if it is a lump sum retirement benefit, or an inheritance, or the proceeds of sale of another property - but checking savings is a real pain. Sorry, but that is the case - if we don't do the checks then us solicitors can find ourselves in trouble for not doing so.