Partially Gifted Deposit from boss

princeofpounds

getmore4less said:

Should have been a bonus, 

Employers are not really supposed to be doing undeclared  gifts.

To be fair, if it came from the boss directly, and not the company, then it would have been paid out of taxed income (or taxed cap gains perhaps). 

Perhaps the OP can clarify, as if it was not paid from the company there is much less to worry about.

Njtspire

Thanks, yes my dad does have the money in personal savings but the letter from the solicitor has scared him and him and his wife now won’t send the statements to the solicitor for fear of being fined etc. 

Njtspire

My father did not want to gift me the money as they see it as already helping me by letting me stay there rent free in order for me to save a big Chuck of the deposit myself 

princeofpounds

Njtspire said:

My father did not want to gift me the money as they see it as already helping me by letting me stay there rent free in order for me to save a big Chuck of the deposit myself 

What does that actually mean? I feel like you've skipped out an important sentence before writing this one.

Your father and his wife are not going to get fined, unless you and your boss actually are laundering money. They haven't even done anything wrong - silly, yes - unless they lie about where they got the money from.

Annisele

What's happened does look quite like money laundering to me. I agree it isn't in fact money laundering (unless the boss acquired the money illegally somewhere). But OP has tried to disguise the source of the money, and that's what money launderers do.

It sounds as though OP knew the lender might not lend unless the money comes from his dad, so he lied about the source of the money. Boss paid the money into the OP's dad's bank account in order to disguise the source of the money. OP's dad has since panicked, because it looks as though OP's dad might be implicated in a scheme to obtain money from the lender under false pretenses.

I think all OP can do now is come clean to his solicitor about the source of the money. But if the OP has exchanged contracts, and if the lender will pull the mortgage offer once it finds out that that's happened, OP may be in a serious financial hole unless he can get a mortgage elsewhere pdq.

Thrugelmir

Having lied your credibility is then shot to pieces as far as the lender is concerned. The question will then arise as to what else have you lied about and in the process committed fraud. 

Gavin83

Annisele said:

I think all OP can do now is come clean to his solicitor about the source of the money. But if the OP has exchanged contracts, and if the lender will pull the mortgage offer once it finds out that that's happened, OP may be in a serious financial hole unless he can get a mortgage elsewhere pdq.

I really hope the OP hasn’t exchanged.....

Please tell us that isn’t the case OP.....

[Deleted User]

@Njtspire, get the money back from your father and explain to your solicitor that you have been a wally.  Check the gifting criteria of the mortgage lender as you never know this particular lender might accept a gifted deposit from an employer.  Do you even need the gift from your employer in order to be able to buy the property or is your own deposit with a larger mortgage enough?

There's also the potential income tax issue as others have pointed out.

SDLT_Geek

Njtspire said:

I feel ive made a really stupid mistake. So my boss have gifted me part of a deposit for a house (i have worked for the company for 14 years and am considered family) i was told its preferred if gifted deposits come from family members only so i thought the best thing to do was say the deposit was coming from my dad. now he solicitor is wanted to see my dads bank statements as proof of this and where the money has come from. im worried as this will show my boss depositing the amount to my dad and my dad transferring it straight to my account. Unsure of what to do now, the letter from solicitors states they will require copy of bank statement to show where the funds have come from. any help would be appreciated. Thanks

A lesson for others perhaps.  It is best to tell the truth.  Perhaps OP can reverse the transactions and start again?

Aspiration

Not the best situation to be in however a couple of options.

You have told the truth about the money coming from your Dad. Have you been asked by the solicitor where your dad got the money from? 

There’s nothing stopping people gifting money, I.e your boss could have gifted your dad the money. The bigger issue is can your boss also provide the solicitor with proof of where the money has come from? If it is legitimate then they will unlikely have an issue with it.

Usually the lender can require a letter confirming that they have no interest in the property and it is a gift.

Best to have the conversation with your solicitor and be honest.