Solicitor asking for proof of funds

Tiglet2

I am wondering if there is more to this than has been disclosed.
OP, do you work in this country and have a national insurance number?  Just wondering if your name is similar to the name of a Politically Exposed Person and has therefore thrown up a query on your ID and the source of funds.  Apologies if I am completely wrong - just thinking out of the box.

AskAsk

Tiglet2 said:

I am wondering if there is more to this than has been disclosed.
OP, do you work in this country and have a national insurance number?  Just wondering if your name is similar to the name of a Politically Exposed Person and has therefore thrown up a query on your ID and the source of funds.  Apologies if I am completely wrong - just thinking out of the box.

i dont think it is a plot for a movie, lol.  105k cash is a lot of money for anyone to have, and if the OP is young and doesn't earn a lot of money, then the solicitors will need to be satisfied this money is legit.  it is expected that he would get interogated.  even 50k could start enquiries.

Thrugelmir

gozaimasu said:

Can we really be expected to keep more than 6 years proof of deposit? HMRC only expect records to be kept for 6 years. It surely took more than 6 years to accrue £105k deposit, but can one solicitor really be so arsey to ask for more than what the uk authorities ask us to keep?!

People themselves are the ones that get arsey. Solicitors have seen and heard it all before. All in a days work as thats what they get paid for.

HMRC are not constrained by the 6 year rule. If they believe that income has been underdeclared previously. The tax, penalties and interest mount up. 

davidmcn

AskAsk said:

Tiglet2 said:

I am wondering if there is more to this than has been disclosed.
OP, do you work in this country and have a national insurance number?  Just wondering if your name is similar to the name of a Politically Exposed Person and has therefore thrown up a query on your ID and the source of funds.  Apologies if I am completely wrong - just thinking out of the box.

i dont think it is a plot for a movie, lol.  105k cash is a lot of money for anyone to have, and if the OP is young and doesn't earn a lot of money, then the solicitors will need to be satisfied this money is legit.  it is expected that he would get interogated.  even 50k could start enquiries.

I would say though it's unusual for solicitors to be asking questions about money which has been sitting in the clients' account for that long. Most money-laundering schemes are relatively fast-moving - if money has been in your account for months, it's almost certainly yours. You need to draw the line somewhere, otherwise you'd be trying to trace the source of funds back to the invention of money.

It's not clear that the OP has simply said to their solicitor "sorry, I don't have that evidence, what do you want instead?" - I get the impression they've come straight here and started fretting about it.

gozaimasu

I know someone who shreds literally every document they get and deletes all their texts and emails. Caused them issues when they went to switch energy supplier because they didn't have their customer number. Energy supplier obviously to blame because they didn't keep proper name/address/meter serial number records, but the consumer is the one that suffers. Fick knows what would happen if said consumer tried to buy a house.

I keep things for 6 years then everything gets shredded/deleted. Guess I'll just sit here and wait for a 12 year court case to rock up or some authority to come fick me over?!

Mickey666

I wonder if the OP’s income would support a larger mortgage than they actually need?  If so, another possibility might be to borrow an extra, say, £80k and only put up a more ‘reasonable’ deposit that might not attract so much attention.  Then, when the deal is all done and dusted, just use their £80k cash to make a lump sum payment to reduce their mortgage, which won’t attract the attention of their solicitor.

Hannimal

Scotbot said:

True but if the solicitor is asking for detailed accounts going back over more than 5 years I would  find another solicitor, preferably a large firm used to overseas transactions.  I have zero experience of money laundering but I  would be surprised if those involved wait that long to access the cash.

They have to do this though and it's not just this one solicitor. They may accept another form of evidence. For example, I had a similar situation earlier this year and in place of bank documents the solicitor accepted a proof of income letter from the employer of the person gifting me money, showing they were able to easily afford it. 

Tiglet2

AskAsk said:

Tiglet2 said:

I am wondering if there is more to this than has been disclosed.
OP, do you work in this country and have a national insurance number?  Just wondering if your name is similar to the name of a Politically Exposed Person and has therefore thrown up a query on your ID and the source of funds.  Apologies if I am completely wrong - just thinking out of the box.

i dont think it is a plot for a movie, lol.  105k cash is a lot of money for anyone to have, and if the OP is young and doesn't earn a lot of money, then the solicitors will need to be satisfied this money is legit.  it is expected that he would get interogated.  even 50k could start enquiries.

Why are you laughing?  It is an aspect of money laundering and ID checks that solicitors have to do and is a serious matter.  I'm not suggesting that the OP's ID has suggested this at all, but the wider checks that his solicitor is asking for suggests that they need further information regarding the source of funds.  Either that or the OP has brought attention to himself by not complying with their requests or is panicking unnecessarily.  OP's other thread suggests he is trying to tell the seller's solicitor how to do his job and wants to complain to the ombudsman that replies are taking too long to answer.

Hannimal

OP, have you asked your solicitor what they want? Maybe arrange a phone call? It seems rather silly to ask a forum of strangers when you are paying a solicitor to help you with this. They are only doing their job and the suggestions here that they are going overboard are misjudged and ignorant. You can proceed to ignore those comments as any solicitor will also need to ensure your funds are legally sourced, even if they are a big firm that are used to international transactions. Those comments are clearly coming from people who have no idea what they are talking about. 

I was in a very similar situation earlier this year with trouble accessing some of this information as the person who gifted me money became seriously ill and unable to provide any documents due to dementia. The gift for the deposit predated the person becoming seriously ill. 

However, this money was gifted to me to support my living costs while I was a student, and I needed to evidence that money for the process of getting my UK citizenship a few years ago. Back then, I got a proof of income letter from the giftees employer showing that they were clearly able to afford to send this money over to me. I also had some bank statements showing the money leaving from their end, and all bank statements from my end. I hadn't kept a detailed record but any bank will have access to statements from the past 5 years (so ring them and they should send these over to you free of charge). 

But first of all, speak with your solicitor. There will be some workable solution and you are not the only person who has to jump through some hoops for this. Changing solicitors will not help you, but it might make your next solicitors cautious if they are aware that you're going to another solicitor in an attempt to avoid evidencing your funds. 

moneysavinghero

Mickey666 said:

I wonder if the OP’s income would support a larger mortgage than they actually need?  If so, another possibility might be to borrow an extra, say, £80k and only put up a more ‘reasonable’ deposit that might not attract so much attention.  Then, when the deal is all done and dusted, just use their £80k cash to make a lump sum payment to reduce their mortgage, which won’t attract the attention of their solicitor.

Which just demonstrates how useless the anti-laundering checks are. All they do is inconvenience genuine purchasers. The organised money launderers will always find ways round it and carry on laundering their money with ease.