Source of Funds - Purchase

Tancred

I received a letter from my solicitor today in relation to my house purchase. They are asking for 'source of funds' details. In addition to the proceeds of my house sale I have around £20k of savings between my partner and myself to add to the pot - the thing that worries me is that the letter demands to see evidence of 'accumulated savings'. This is difficult to obtain because funds and have been moved over the last few years in and out of different accounts and statements only show transfers and payments with no details of where funds have been moved in and out of. Some of those funds come from accounts that have now been closed and I have no record of.

Is it normally enough to send statements? Some of the payments in have been four figure amounts from accounts that have since been closed. Is this going to be an issue?

outdoorcjc

I had to do the same and just sent them the current statements showing the balance was in an account, and they haven't come back to query this.

I think they just need to see evidence that the funds are in place and will be coming from an account in your name rather than someone else's which would require more checks from a Money Laundering perspective.

I'm sure some more experienced hands will know more about it though.

ognum

It's fine to send a statement and a letter which simply says the funds have come from earned income, inheritence, etc.

kingstreet

All the solicitor is expected to do is to add to the audit trail so the authorities can back-trace the money if a money laundering offence was ever suspected.

Statement(s) for the account(s) in which the money now lives will be fine.

Tancred

kingstreet wrote: »

All the solicitor is expected to do is to add to the audit trail so the authorities can back-trace the money if a money laundering offence was ever suspected.

Statement(s) for the account(s) in which the money now lives will be fine.

The problem is that it is not always possible to do a full audit trail on every transaction. It's ridiculous to even expect this. Banks will provide statements but not necessarily the source of every payment made into the account.

kingstreet

It should be sufficient to provide a statement which simply "snapshots" where the money is today. You shouldn't have to produce years of statements, showing for example the source of the £500 wedding present Auntie Mary gave you in 2004.