Gifted deposit proof - help!

crl1995

Deleted_User said:

I think your mistake was in saying it was gifted. The circumstances you describe are very different from them giving you £25k specifically for a deposit.

I didn’t declare it was gifted, but the solicitor said as it’s not money I’ve saved myself then it still counts as gifted. Even though the accounts are in my names, the money wasn’t saved by me. 

crl1995

Deleted_User said:

I think your mistake was in saying it was gifted. The circumstances you describe are very different from them giving you £25k specifically for a deposit.

Plus, they still need to prove payments going in to the savings accounts, which would not be from me anyway. 

chunkytfg

As far as the solicitor is concerned just speak to the bank the money is currently in and ask for 6 months of bank statements.  ignore the fact its taken years and years to accrue.  The 'gifted' aspect of the money is a red herring really.  It's your money in essence as pointed out earlier by the birthday money analogy.  The Sol is merely trying to establish that the money hasn't come from illegal activities and you've had it for a while and not that the money is gifted or not.

'Gifting' money is only awkward when the mortgage company want singed paperwork proving the person gifting the money does not want the money back in the future essentially meaning they have a stake in the house swell as the mortgage company.

davidmcn

crl1995 said:

davidmcn said:

Has the solicitor actually said they want to look back 25 years? I would usually expect them only to want the last few months of statements.

He said he wanted to see the last 6 months of payments from my grandad to the savings accounts. Only trouble is these were about 10-15 years ago and they’ve been in various accounts.. My answer to my solicitor is no I don’t have proof.  

I don't know whether you're misinterpreting what your solicitor has told you, or your solicitor has misinterpreted whatever guidance they're working to, but I would expect them only to want to trace back the money to wherever it was 6 months ago.
I would just tell them what you've told us and see what they say. As above, I wouldn't regard this as "gifted" if any "gifts" are historic and nothing to do with the house purchase - otherwise where do you stop e.g. declare the fiver you got for your 10th birthday?
The whole point of the rules are to combat money-laundering, and obviously if you're a criminal gang laundering money you'll want to do it as quickly as possible, not set up some scheme which takes decades to come to fruition.

Dineen33

Having recently gifted significantly more to my son for his deposit I'm amazed your solicitor is asking.

I  transferred £70k a month prior to the purchase and had to sign a very simple letter to ensure I had no interest in the property. I had transferred £20k+ over two years earlier, the solicitor wasnt interested in that money, probably because its origin was never mentioned.

In that the money was in the OPs name for over a decade then it was the OPs money, who would be signing this letter if the grandparents had shuffled off this mortal coil five years ago ?