Estate agent asking for bank statement transaction history as proof of funds.

maccaz21

Hi.

With regards to showing you are a serious cash buyer, I understand the need for weeding out time wasters and showing some evidence, but can anybody tell me whether an EA has a legal obligation for a full, non-blanked, pdf version bank statement as proof of funds due to money laundering regulations?

I'm a cash buyer. I put in a bid via email and sent a jpeg snapshot of my online account. It shows my name, account number, the bank name and the amount i have bid.
EA called me and asked for my ID (which I'm OK with doing, I sent in passport) but also a pdf version of the POF. I asked why, she said money laundering, at which I replied this is the solicitors job.

The snapshot did not show the date, which she said she needed, so I therefore looked at my latest statement, which at the time shows significantly more money than my bid amount. I took another jpeg, but only of the top of the statement. EA now has name, address, date of statement, more than enough cash, account number, sort code etc.

Because it was a jpeg snapshot they have rejected it. They state it must a pdf version of my full statement. I asked them, do you mean an un-blanked, full statement which shows my full transaction history? To my amazement, I received the below,

"As an estate agents, we still have a legal obligation to abide by the Money Laundering Regulations. We need to fully clarify where the monies are coming from before we can get to the stages of the solicitors"

Surely this can't be right from an EA? They're acting the like investigators.

I've dealt with tens of EA's who have not asked for this, I'll be speaking to her management and potentially going to the property ombudsman for being overly intrusive and way outside of an EA remit.

Unless someone can tell me otherwise?

Thank you

Mac...

Lolly88

If you were getting a mortgage they might not be so intrusive they obviously want to make sure it's all above board and you're proceedable so that it's safe to take the property of the market. You could direct them to your solicitors for verification that you pass money laundering checks or just send them a redacted PDF bank statement. I had to do the latter before they would even pass my offer on to the vendor.

maccaz21

Yes, I understand some of your point. I understand the need to give them something to prove I'm serious, however, they have explicitly said they want to see where the money is coming from, therefore I can't redact my own transaction history on the statement.

They want an version of bank statement that I'm not willing to give them.. I totally understand ID checks from an EA. I've sent passport already. But to state they must see where my money comes from is way over the top in my opinion for an EA, and from I'm reading online, is not part of their remit.

Linton

maccaz21 wrote: »

...
They want an version of bank statement that I'm not willing to give them.. I totally understand ID checks from an EA. I've sent passport already. But to state they must see where my money comes from is way over the top in my opinion for an EA, and from I'm reading online, is not part of their remit.

The EA's remit is to satisfy the vendor that your offer is sufficiently secure for the house to be taken off the market. In any case, you will have to show where the money is coming from when you buy the house. Any doubt about you passing the money laundering tests must affect the vendor's decision when choosing which offer to accept especially if you have refused to satisfy the EA.

Comms69

The answer is, as always, my solicitor will confirm I have the funding to proceed.

Comms69

Linton wrote: »

The EA's remit is to satisfy the vendor that your offer is sufficiently secure for the house to be taken off the market. In any case, you will have to show where the money is coming from when you buy the house. Any doubt about you passing the money laundering tests must affect the vendor's decision when choosing which offer to accept especially if you have refused to satisfy the EA.

No you wont. The solicitor will see this, the estate agent will never have any interaction with the buyers bank account.

maccaz21

If the EA's remit is to satisfy the vendor, are we saying this particular vendor is requesting buyers show full, unedited bank statement with transaction history, and if so, why are the EA telling me they are doing this for AML purposes? it's a pretty specific request from a vendor.

Also, if I showed her my transactions, and for example, I had 10k coming in from a company in Brazil two months ago, what is she going to do, start quizzing me on travels to a foreign country? They're an Estate Agent!! These questions I'm fine with coming from a solicitor as I've employed them to do these checks for me,

Na, in my opinion the EA is going off on a tangent. Probably doesn't know what she's doing or on a little power trip.

I've give them more than enough.

Name
Address
Date of statement
Money, well in excess of the bid I made
Bank name
Sort Code / Account no, (Even IBAN and BIC)

A full, unedited pdf version of my bank statement is a step too far.

I like Comms69 idea and I'll be doing that in future.

ThePants999

No estate agent will ever be seeing my financial records. The only use they have for this information, as compared to simply having a solicitor verify you've passed money laundering checks, is squeezing a better offer out of you.

mjs0510

I've never been requested to show proof of funds to the EA.

Most EA's we have dealt with have been happy to talk to our FA to confirm we have funds in place for deposit etc. A couple have also asked us to speak to their guys just as a matter of their procedure but I would not be showing any of my financial information to an EA - thats what solicitors are for.

Surrey_EA

ThePants999 wrote: »

No estate agent will ever be seeing my financial records. The only use they have for this information, as compared to simply having a solicitor verify you've passed money laundering checks, is squeezing a better offer out of you.

Unlikely to be adequate any longer.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/money-laundering-regulations-2017/money-laundering-regulations-2017#estate-agent-businesses

Although there is no need for an EA to see financial records to comply with AML regs. As has been previously mentioned confirmation from solicitor/broker/financial adviser that sufficient funds are available will be good enough for any reputable EA.

KittenChops

We're about to put our house on the market. One of the EAs who came to value it told us that he HAD to see someone's AIP as part of AML regs and couldn't speak to a broker or solicitor to confirm. When I questioned this, he repeated it, and then made some comment about wanting people to use their in house mortgage advisor... It's not the main reason we won't be using them but it didn't help their case! As a buyer, that would seriously put me off - and we don't want to lose potential buyers.

The other two EAs both said they would confirm with broker or solicitor.