How to prove I sold a house

JoJo333

Hi,

I am buying a flat in Gibraltar where they have very strong anti money laundering laws. They want to know where the money is coming from to buy my flat.

The money is coming from a house I sold about 5 years ago in the UK, but unfortunately I didn't keep any of the paperwork (I wont make that mistake again). I have nothing to show that I sold the house. I have asked the solicitor I used if they have any paperwork but they are not being very helpful.

I was hoping someone might have an idea what I can do, its very frustrating you cant even spend your own money these days.

Many thanks.

davidmcn

If it's been sitting in your bank account for several years then that should be enough evidence for most people that it's your money.

You can get copies of your old bank statements if you haven't kept them.

Your previous solicitor should still have your file and you're entitled to a copy of it.

DCFC79

As mentioned bank statements should be ok, ask them how many years statements they would like to see.

AnotherJoe

What about the solicitor you did the sale through?

Annisele

The Land Registry will presumably have records that show you used to be the owner of the house, and that it was sold five years ago.

paddedjohn

Copy of an old bank statement showing the money being deposited into your account should suffice.

babyblade41

get a completion statement from the solicitor who acted for you

eddddy

JoJo333 wrote: »

I am buying a flat in Gibraltar where they have very strong anti money laundering laws. They want to know where the money is coming from to buy my flat.

Have you specifically told 'them' that you sold the property 5 years ago, and they've said they want proof?


The standardised AML rules list that solicitors give out will talk about proving that funds came from the sale of property - but they don't necessarily mean property sold many years ago.

Bank statements showing that the money has been sitting in your account for 6, 12 or 24 months may be enough.


Edit to add...

In a vaguely similar situation, my solicitor said to send over whatever proof was available and he'd pass it on to his AML team to see what they say.

But I'm not sure that all solicitors would work like that.

JoJo333

Many thanks,

I did show them 5 years of bank statements but they want to know where it came from. They seem very over zelous, maybe its because its Gibraltar and they get strange money problems there.

The solicitor is being difficult and trating me like im a bit of a nuisance, do you know if I have the legal right to get copys, I dont mind paying a small fee.

davidmcn

JoJo333 wrote: »

I did show them 5 years of bank statements but they want to know where it came from.

Seems a bit daft - the next question could be "and where did you get the money to buy the house?" ! They need to draw the line somewhere. Don't you have a statement showing the money coming in from your solicitors?

The solicitor is being difficult and treating me like I'm a bit of a nuisance, do you know if I have the legal right to get copies

Like I said above, yes. It's your file.

foxy-stoat

Land Registry would be my first choice, a few pounds and you should be able to get the proof that you where the previous owner and price you sold it for.