Strange situation - buyer wants to overpay...

InMyDreams

I can see how it would be in his favour for you to sell your house at a high price (to anyone) as it potentially would distort the valuations of his other houses in a positive way. He certainly wouldn't want you accepting a low offer for the same reason.

I would use this to your advantage... he may well be prepared to offer you a higher price than anyone else (to avoid you selling cheaply).

I would steer clear of any cash-back deal as whatever he says, you would surely be complicit in any inflated figure recorded on the land registry. However he may well still be prepared to offer over the actual value due to him being a 'special interest purchaser' which I think is totally legitimate. Still not totally convinced of the legality of that, but I would definitely take proper advice before you just dismiss him as a crook.

maninthestreet

So, when the sale of the property is registered with the LR, what price will be used - £150K or £220K?

princeofpounds

There are two potential issues. One is money laundering, the other is land registry valuations.

It wouldn't be particularly effective money laundering, because the source of the payment that is returned to him is hard to explain. So I don't actually suspect this is the reason. However, because it is an odd transaction in theory the solicitors should have a duty to report it (secretly).

More likely he is seeking to fix the land registry price records so that anyone who uses Zoopla rather than their brain to value a property overpays. However, this 70k would count as a gifted deposit and under the current LR rules should be declared and deducted. So unless one or both of you lie to the land registry this sort of scam doesn't work any more.

ilikewatch

Well, - things are moving fast this morning! I have spoken (briefly) to my solicitor, her opinion was that although from the details I had provided she couldn't see anything excplicitly legally wrong with the proposed deal, there are certainly moral and ethical implications, and she would be unlikely to want to act for me, though couldn't say for sure until she had carried out some (presumably eye-wateringly expensive) research and gathered the full facts.

Her unofficial advice, (which echoes what many posters have said) is that I shouldn't touch it with a bargepole, and should proceed down the normal routes to sell.

I will contact the proposed buyer and let him know my thoughts...

hollydays

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction,btw,whatever happened to your friend who had the trench dug round their car in a carpark....

ilikewatch

hollydays wrote: »

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction,btw,whatever happened to your friend who had the trench dug round their car in a carpark....

We eventually managed to jack up the rear of the car by sliding a trolley jack in from one side, then sliding 2 galvanised ramps from a car transporter trailer across the gap and under the wheels - which made for some delicate and nail-biting reversing back across the gap...

kazwookie

ilikewatch wrote: »

Money laundering or mortgage fraud were my 2 main worries, but the potential buyer brushed these concerns aside - he says he will be paying in cash and is happy to provide a letter from his bank confirming his ability to proceed. As regards money laundering he pointed out that if this was the case he would be trying to arrange this without the involvement of solicitors and electronic transfers "as he wouldn't want to leave a paper trail".

err who hold that amount of money in cash?? :eek::cool:

and what will you say to the bank if you do go ahead when you come to pay it in! :rotfl:

Keep well clear of this.

hollydays

ilikewatch wrote: »

We eventually managed to jack up the rear of the car by sliding a trolley jack in from one side, then sliding 2 galvanised ramps from a car transporter trailer across the gap and under the wheels - which made for some delicate and nail-biting reversing back across the gap...

aw,you never updated that thread;)

JimmyTheWig

princeofpounds wrote: »

So unless one or both of you lie to the land registry this sort of scam doesn't work any more.

Exactly.
I've got no problems with someone paying £220k and getting £70k change. But then the price would still be £150k and that's what should be reported to the Land Revenue.

If you report to Land Revenue (via your solicitor, presumably) that the sale was for £220k (which is what this guy wants you to do) you (and your solicitor, presumably) will be in trouble.

wnoktnwbr

I must say that guy has balls, what a genius plan.

kazwookie wrote: »

err who hold that amount of money in cash?? :eek::cool:

and what will you say to the bank if you do go ahead when you come to pay it in! :rotfl:

Keep well clear of this.

The sort of person that owns 4 properties (minimum, he could have more elsewhere) and is looking to acquire more?