Estate Agent requesting full bank statement for POF

LawAbiding

Surrey_EA wrote: »

Wrong!

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/801373/EAB.pdf

It's a legal requirement for Solicitors but only Guidance for EA's.
My deposit is around 25k, and the vendor's EA did not do any of these checks....but my solicitor has....

jenand8285

eddddy wrote: »

Do you mean you 'edited' the image in some way - maybe to hide the transactions? Or is it an (easily faked) online printout?

My guess is that maybe the EA doesn't trust whatever you've sent - they either think it's been doctored or they don't regard it as a sufficiently 'official' statement.


As an example, one company [not an EA] wouldn't 'accept' a statement that I got printed out from a self-service machine in a bank branch, because it would be too easy for me to 'mock-up' myself - so I asked a bank assistant to watch me print it, and stamp it with the branch stamp. Then it was acceptable.

Alternatively, you could ask the EA if you can bring in a detailed statement, which the EA can look at but not copy. (I know EAs who have agreed to this.)

Or maybe even offer to show the EA your account balance on your banking app on your phone (because that would be much harder to fake).

No, it was a scanned copy of the postal copy (yes I need to update my preferences) and it was folded in half, just how it arrived. The transactions only show below the half way mark. IMO it did not appear to conceal anything. And its a relatively small amount of cash anyway.

sillyhilly

LawAbiding wrote: »

It's a legal requirement for Solicitors but only Guidance for EA's.
My deposit is around 25k, and the vendor's EA did not do any of these checks....but my solicitor has....

Incorrect. That guidance is guidance on how to comply with the Regulations.

Section 8(2) of the MLRs:

(2) The persons listed in this paragraph are—
(a)credit institutions;
(b)financial institutions;
(c)auditors, insolvency practitioners, external accountants and tax advisers;
(d)independent legal professionals;
(e)trust or company service providers;
(f)estate agents;
(g)high value dealers;
(h)casinos.

ACG

LawAbiding wrote: »

EA's do wind me up.

It's the solicitors responsibility to ensure money laundering rules are complied, not the EA's.

Download it, black out everything apart from what you need to show and send it.

It's likely they will then think, what are you hiding by blacking it out, though!

It is everyones responsibility - solicitors, estate agents, mortgage lenders and brokers if there is one.


But to the OP, ask to see a copy of their policy. On there it should have a list of what is acceptable. We are a 3 man band and we have a list of what we can accept.

jenand8285

Ah, I’ve just got home and checked the statement I had sent and it actually only had a single transaction. That’s when I noticed the date range was 31st July - 1st Aug.

So I re-checked the EA email and it says they require a full months worth of statements for this account.

I do t have anything to hide, as I say the bulk of the deposit is coming from my house sale. So if it was drug money, it’s too late now!

I suppose I have no real reason for not wanting to send them over other than the personal nature of them.

So why do you suppose they need a FULL month of transactions. The money going in is from other accounts I have, so not direct from employers. Are they then going to insist on seeing the full statements of the accounts that fund this account?? Where does it stop?

I already really don’t like Housesimple and their double glazing style aggressive sales tactics so I’m not exactly in any hurry to correspond with them!

comedyseeker123

I would also be worried that the Estate Agent wouldn’t ‘pass’ people for money laundering and hinder sales, either on purpose or not

theartfullodger

jenand8285 wrote: »

.................. But now the estate agent are insisting on seeing the full statement. I am reluctant to do this purely out of principle!

So my question is can the estate agent insist on full transactional information?

They can demand what they like: You don't have to agree to their demands.


You can demand what you like: I suggest you demand full bank statement from the agent... Clearly they think it's a reasonable thing to request so I'm sure they'll oblige...


;-)

jenand8285

comedyseeker123 wrote: »

I would also be worried that the Estate Agent wouldn’t ‘pass’ people for money laundering and hinder sales, either on purpose or not

The vendor agreed to mark the house SSTC (that was done on Rightmove within hours) and cancel future bookings when we went to full asking price. So I can’t see why they would deliberately delay completing the memo of sale. But they are selling the house for ‘free’ so have nothing to lose I guess!

jenand8285

I am getting myself a bit wound up about this. My husband thinks I should just send them over, after all we have nothing to hide.


But I really do not want to send my full bank statements over email and I don't think it usual practice in our situation! It is not like its a transaction I would consider high risk for ML. We are a couple with a joint employment income of £60k buying a house for £220k using £40k from an house we have owned for almost 5 years and contributing a measly £4k!! I would expect more thorough due diligence if we were cash buyers, but it is £4k!!


It would have been easier for me to get a bigger loan on the AIP!!


I suppose I will end up just sending them as what else can I do?? We don't want to lose the house...

LawAbiding

I would ignore them and ask them to get the memo of sale done and if they bring it up, just say my solicitor will be doing the checks.

As I said above I have 25k deposit and my EA never asked for anything just the AIP for rest.

They completed the memo of sale and my solicitor checked my finding and went through the ML regulations.