Shared ownership CHAPS payment to wrong account

rockall81

Hello,

I am in the process of buying a house, the deposit which i am supposed to send it to my solicitor was unfortunately sent to sellers solicitor.

Now Sellers solicitor is asking thousand questions which i feel totally unnecessary.

Dont know what to do? Money transferred was through CHAPS payment.

Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

theartfullodger

Who made the mistake & why?

What is it you don't want to tell solicitor of vendor?

rockall81

Buyer (me) made the mistake (its one off sorry, i took the account number mentioned in the contact document). There is nothing to hide for Sellers solicitor.

Sellers solicitor is asking original bank statement including the transaction details of deposit transferred. Which i will take at least 5 days to come to my home address.

Seller is loosing confidence and threatening to pull out of the deal.

Please advise

casualwalks

How bizarre. Why did you have the seller's solicitor's bank details to begin with? When I bought a house, my solicitor only provided their business account details.

rockall81

Yes mate, its bizzare, looks to me i have been tricked. Please what next?

skintandscared_2

Are any of the questions in relation to your identity? There could well be anti-money laundering implications in this transaction. You have sent monies to a solicitor who you have not instructed, and they cannot accept monies from someone who is not their client and for whom they have not carried out anti-money laundering procedures. The law is very strict. Even simply sending it back to you could have money laundering implications as the process of passing through a solicitor could be seen as "cleaning" the money. Can the seller's solicitors simply refuse to accept it, so it reverts back to you, or is it too late for that now?

rockall81

Its too late for seller solicitor to refuse it.

Nope, i dont have any identity issues everything is legal. All i need is get my house clear the money to seller.
What is the best way to deal with this ? and what should i do? Can i contact sellers solicitor and do something?

agrinnall

It's not the orthodox way of doing things, but surely the seller's solicitor will end up with the money anyway, you have just inadvertently missed your own solicitor out of the loop.

rockall81

You mean, i will not get my money back or house either?

G_M

I assume you are due to Exchange Contracts shortly? This week? And so your solicitor wanted the money ready to pass to the seller's solicitor at Exchange?

Assuming there are no issues affecting Exchange and Exchange can proceed as planned, surely the seller's solicitor can simply confirm they've received the deposit and Exchange can go ahead?

If, for some reason, Exchange needs to be delayed, or cancelled, then you need to get the seller's solicitor to return the money.

In which case you will need to go through whatever buroctratic are required.

Have you spoken to your solicitor?

rockall81

Yes I have spoken to my solicitor, they are trying to complete the Deal.

But your answers really gives some my confidence back.

Thanks.