Using a gift towards a deposit without showing bank statements

chgor

Hello! 

I'm currently in the process of hunting down a first house. My uncle very kindly gifted my girlfriend and I £6000 to help towards the initial deposit. 

This money has now been sat in my savings account for just over 6 months so won't display on any bank statements I have to hand over. I'm familiar with the procedure going forward and my Uncle is reluctant to provide his banks statements, having had to do this for my brother in the past, as he sees it as a bit of an invasion of privacy and just a hassle to sort. 

With this money not displaying on anything I have to hand over, will it be questioned as to where our savings came from (we do have quite a bit on top of what my uncle gifted us as well) or will we still have to provide proof of the gift?

Thanks in advance.

davidmcn

Not sure what you mean by "not displaying on any bank statements" - it's in your savings account so it's your savings account statements which will be relevant (at least for the last six months, and they may well not look back any further than that).

In general though there are no standard requirements for anti-money-laundering evidence, so you'll just need to see what you get asked for.

chgor

davidmcn said:

Not sure what you mean by "not displaying on any bank statements" - it's in your savings account so it's your savings account statements which will be relevant (at least for the last six months, and they may well not look back any further than that).

Sorry, I probably didn't explain that very well. I mean in terms of the transaction coming from my Uncle being in January - should we have to provide 3/6 months of statements, that particular transaction won't be in there. 

davidmcn

chgor said:

davidmcn said:

Not sure what you mean by "not displaying on any bank statements" - it's in your savings account so it's your savings account statements which will be relevant (at least for the last six months, and they may well not look back any further than that).

Sorry, I probably didn't explain that very well. I mean in terms of the transaction coming from my Uncle being in January - should we have to provide 3/6 months of statements, that particular transaction won't be in there. 

Well, you go back further until you get to the relevant transaction. But you may well not even be asked for it.

Not much you can do if uncle is asked for statements and refuses to show them, other than explain that his gift is a bit pointless if you're not allowed to use it because of his awkwardness. What is he actually worried about? Thousands of employees at his bank can potentially see his transactions already.

princeofpounds

You could do a couple of things when asked for the source of funds. You could say it was a gift, and see what you get asked for. It probably would be a letter from your uncle saying it was a gift. I'd be surprised if he gets asked for bank statements, although it's not impossible if something else raises a money laundering flag.

Or you could claim that it came from savings from income. That's obviously a lie, but given the money didn't just appear recently it's possible that it won't be questioned. 

theartfullodger

Why not simply tell the whole truth?  When I gifted part of deposit to two of my sons each time the lender of their mortgages required ME to sign a document stating it was an outright gift not a loan, think they also asked ME source of funds ..

Is the Uncle an actual blood-relative uncle or more of an informal uncle please?

Good luck with 1st purchase: After over 40 years of many house purchases & sales I think I'm beginning to understand the process...

AdrianC

It's not the solicitor being awkward - it's the law that they have to satisfy themselves of the origins of any money, to make sure that you are not money laundering the proceeds of crime.

If your Uncle Vladimir in Moscow or your Uncle "Big Tony" in Palermo is perfectly legitimate, there should be no issue with them liaising with your solicitor.

chgor

Thanks everyone for the replies. 

We will 100% tell the truth when asked. It is just a case of my Uncle being a little awkward and stuck in his slightly old school ways. Is he able to interact with the solicitor directly rather than via us? I think part of his reluctance is passing his bank statements on to us! 

theartfullodger said:

Is the Uncle an actual blood-relative uncle or more of an informal uncle please?

He is a blood relative, yes, it's my dad's brother. 

Thank you for the good luck! It's certainly exciting but very stressful at the same time. 

davidmcn

chgor said:

Is he able to interact with the solicitor directly rather than via us?

Yes, of course. I doubt the solicitor will mind doing that.

AdrianC

davidmcn said:

chgor said:

Is he able to interact with the solicitor directly rather than via us?

Yes, of course. I doubt the solicitor will mind doing that.

I'd think the solicitor would prefer it...

Crumble2018

We had a gifted deposit, and my in-laws had to prove where THEY had got the money from, and they also had to present 2 forms of ID to the solicitor involved.