Gifted deposit overseas

Josephgousto

Hi everyone.

We’ve had an offer accepted on a house, and applied for a mortgage (Santander). The valuation came back fine, but the case has been with the underwriters for quite some time now. We got the info today that further checks are now required with a second underwriter in a more specialised team - reason for this is a fairly large, 6 digit gifted deposit from my father in my home country (EU country). The affordability came back fine for both my partner and myself.

Has anyone have any experience with mortgage applications with large gifted deposits from overseas? What’s the usual process with such applications?

We are feeling quite nervous about it all.

Any advice on this would be really appreciated.

Thanks! 

AdrianC

The solicitor has a legal obligation to ensure the funds are from legitimate sources.
Clearly, that's going to be a bit harder with foreign funds than UK-sourced, but not as hard from EU as from a developing country. The donor will need to provide paperwork, and some of it may need to be translated officially into English.

How they do it is not specified in the various EU anti-money-laundering directives, just that they must. And, yes, the EU directives still form the basis of the UK law.

davidmcn

AdrianC said:

The solicitor has a legal obligation to ensure the funds are from legitimate sources.
Clearly, that's going to be a bit harder with foreign funds than UK-sourced, but not as hard from EU as from a developing country. The donor will need to provide paperwork, and some of it may need to be translated officially into English.

How they do it is not specified in the various EU anti-money-laundering directives, just that they must. And, yes, the EU directives still form the basis of the UK law.

OP appears to be talking about whether the gifted deposit will be acceptable in principle to the lender rather than AML requirements. (I don't have any useful advice other than at this stage there's little you can do but wait and see what the decision is)

Josephgousto

AdrianC said:

The solicitor has a legal obligation to ensure the funds are from legitimate sources.
Clearly, that's going to be a bit harder with foreign funds than UK-sourced, but not as hard from EU as from a developing country. The donor will need to provide paperwork, and some of it may need to be translated officially into English.

How they do it is not specified in the various EU anti-money-laundering directives, just that they must. And, yes, the EU directives still form the basis of the UK law.

Thanks for your response. The EA has done numerous checks regarding AML prior to even issuing a memorandum of sale. The documentation is there, but I understand the lender will do more in depth searches.

Josephgousto

davidmcn said:

AdrianC said:

The solicitor has a legal obligation to ensure the funds are from legitimate sources.
Clearly, that's going to be a bit harder with foreign funds than UK-sourced, but not as hard from EU as from a developing country. The donor will need to provide paperwork, and some of it may need to be translated officially into English.

How they do it is not specified in the various EU anti-money-laundering directives, just that they must. And, yes, the EU directives still form the basis of the UK law.

OP appears to be talking about whether the gifted deposit will be acceptable in principle to the lender rather than AML requirements. (I don't have any useful advice other than at this stage there's little you can do but wait and see what the decision is)

Thanks for coming back to me.
The mortgage broker has experience with our lender and has assured us a gifted foreign currency deposit should not be an issue as such - however we understand there can be no guarantee.
I was wondering whether anyone on here has gone through a similar experience and can share any advice. 

Josephgousto

@AdrianC @davidmcn thank you both, we had our offer through this morning.

Thrugelmir

Josephgousto said:

AdrianC said:

The solicitor has a legal obligation to ensure the funds are from legitimate sources.
Clearly, that's going to be a bit harder with foreign funds than UK-sourced, but not as hard from EU as from a developing country. The donor will need to provide paperwork, and some of it may need to be translated officially into English.

How they do it is not specified in the various EU anti-money-laundering directives, just that they must. And, yes, the EU directives still form the basis of the UK law.

The EA has done numerous checks regarding AML prior to even issuing a memorandum of sale. The documentation is there, but I understand the lender will do more in depth searches.

Unlikely that the EA did anymore than obtain documentary evidence. Rather than perform actual checks. 

MaryNB

My parents gifted me some money for my deposit from an EU country. My lender didn't ask me for any documentation regarding my gifted deposit, not even a gifted deposit letter, and I got my offer through very quickly. Later on as I was going through conveyancing my solicitor (also acting for my lender) asked for loads of documentation from my parents and me. Check with your solicitor upfront and ascertain exactly what they need and in what format. It was the most painful part of the conveyancing process for me. 

Thrugelmir

MaryNB said:

My parents gifted me some money for my deposit from an EU country. My lender didn't ask me for any documentation regarding my gifted deposit, not even a gifted deposit letter, and I got my offer through very quickly. Later on as I was going through conveyancing my solicitor (also acting for my lender) asked for loads of documentation from my parents and me. Check with your solicitor upfront and ascertain exactly what they need and in what format. It was the most painful part of the conveyancing process for me. 

Solicitor performs the checks on the lenders behalf normally. 

Josephgousto

MaryNB said:

My parents gifted me some money for my deposit from an EU country. My lender didn't ask me for any documentation regarding my gifted deposit, not even a gifted deposit letter, and I got my offer through very quickly. Later on as I was going through conveyancing my solicitor (also acting for my lender) asked for loads of documentation from my parents and me. Check with your solicitor upfront and ascertain exactly what they need and in what format. It was the most painful part of the conveyancing process for me. 

thanks that was really helpful!