Gift letter for Estate Agent

felinefancy

Hello,

We recently bid on a property and it ended up as 'final scenario' where all bidders had to provide best offer and provide proof of funds, for mortgage and deposit etc.

We didn't have our house in order (no pun intended) therefore we were scrabbling around trying to get our savings bank to send us a statement of our balance (they wouldn't email it to us), and also as my father is giving us 3/4 of the deposit funds, I had to ask him to ask his bank for a statement illustrating he had the funds.  He wouldn't do that, instead sent us a cheque (as he doesn't have internet banking) and a week later we're still waiting for that.  (Another story!).   Needless to say, we didn't get the house.

Cutting a long story short, the estate agent asked us to supply a 'gift letter' from my father.  As we're going to see him at Christmas, hopefully, I want to prepare a generic letter, as we don't have any property in mind at present, and at least be prepared to provide this in the future if we're asked to do so again.  The cheque he sends will be deposited into our bank account.  What is the best example of a 'gift letter' that I can use, for providing to Estate Agents again, if they ask.   Would I need to ask Dad, at this time, to provide proof of where his gift came from (i.e. his investment account)?  Should I also ask him to get his ID (i.e. a driving licence) certified, and get this from him?  I want to try to be as prepared as possible with this.   He's five hours away from us with no internet so it's either in person in a week's time or resorting to snailmail to get this accomplished.

Or, if the monies are deposited in our account, and we provide a bank statement in say in a couple of months for the current balance, then that lump sum would just form part of our balance and no-one would ask us about it, and no letter is required??  

Thank you.

Snookie12cat

Your father is going to have to show how he got those savings to gift you to any bank and solicitor before they will accept it so he will need to do that at some point. 

My solicitor wanted years of statements showing the money going in and out of various places, so you will to evidence it. 

Sanctioned_Parts_List

A quick google search turned up a number of examples but the magic words are a statement that "this gift is given freely, no repayment is required and no interest will be charged, and there will be no interest retained in the property being purchased."

The info @Snookie12cat mentioned is related to anti money laundering regulations - some solicitors are meticulous about it, others less so.

kingstreet

If you plan on using a particular mortgage lender, use its pro forma, if it has one. For example;-

https://www.halifax-intermediaries.co.uk/pdf/mortgage/gifted-deposit-letter-template.pdf

https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/-/media/NFI/documents/p2505-mortgage-gifted-deposit-form.pdf?la=en&hash=40C4D609BEA6331154BB5CC3044D7E99C769B79C

saajan_12

If you declare it as a gift, then yes the source would need to be demonstrated eg X months of statements on father's investment account. 

If receive the money now and its not a huge amount that you couldn't have accummulated from savings etc, then they'll probably only ask for X months of statements so X months later it'll probably be assumed to be your money. 

X depends on the EA or solicitor's policy - there's no fixed rule, but just what they think is justifiable if they are challenged for checking for money laundering etc - often 3-6 months. 

Sanctioned_Parts_List said:

A quick google search turned up a number of examples but the magic words are a statement that "this gift is given freely, no repayment is required and no interest will be charged, and there will be no interest retained in the property being purchased."

The info @Snookie12cat mentioned is related to anti money laundering regulations - some solicitors are meticulous about it, others less so.

Note that only covers the gifter's intention for the gift. It could still get pulled or face AML issues if the money was from proceeds of a crime, or dad transferred money to you to avoid creditors. So they'd still want some proof of the source. 

felinefancy

Thank you everyone... I'll prime Dad.  At 79, he's rather irritated by all these matters as, 'It wasn't like that when I bought our properties!" and huffs and puffs, annoyed at every single request.  Without internet, bless him, it's going to be a difficult process because he just doesn't understand why all this information is needed.  And I just must say, his monies are all above board and simply accumulated from years of investment.  He invented the phrase money saver!

MaryNB

felinefancy said:

Thank you everyone... I'll prime Dad.  At 79, he's rather irritated by all these matters as, 'It wasn't like that when I bought our properties!" and huffs and puffs, annoyed at every single request.  Without internet, bless him, it's going to be a difficult process because he just doesn't understand why all this information is needed.  And I just must say, his monies are all above board and simply accumulated from years of investment.  He invented the phrase money saver!

My dad is 73. Also old school, no internet banking, very much a man of cash. The kind of person who doesn't like the government knowing what he does with his money (he's not up to anything illegal,  he just thinks it's none of their business). He deposited some of the gifted money into my account via a lodgement machine so it was harder to prove where it came from, and it wasn't an insignificant sum.

He had to show verified ID and proof of address, bank account details and the source of funds (letter from his employer confirming retirement payout) to my solicitor. He found the process quite difficult. However, it's entirely up to the solicitor to confirm they're happy that the money is legit. Your father will find it difficult to argue his case if he's not happy providing requested documentation. If the solicitor isn't happy they won't accept the money. They have to adhere to anti money laundering regs. They're also acting for your bank and will have to make sure they're doing their due diligence for the lender. 

Want2move2021

My parents supported us with a gift for our deposit, we printed off the nationwide generic letter for them to sign, sent to our solictors. They also needed ID from my parents and proof of them selling the shares for the money. 

user1977

Whoever wants the letter (and bear in mind the solicitors and lenders may also need a letter) should be telling you what wording they need - not much point in you guessing and getting it wrong. 

[Deleted User]

felinefancy said:

Thank you everyone... I'll prime Dad.  At 79, he's rather irritated by all these matters as, 'It wasn't like that when I bought our properties!" and huffs and puffs, annoyed at every single request.  Without internet, bless him, it's going to be a difficult process because he just doesn't understand why all this information is needed.  And I just must say, his monies are all above board and simply accumulated from years of investment.  He invented the phrase money saver!

I think there's definitely something in the age as a couple of people have said. My Dad is also 79 and can't get his head around what he feels is a level of intrusion. And again - couldn't be more above board but he's just so old school and still thinks of everyone as having a 'bank manager' that knows them and he can talk to someone and they will understand and can waive things for them, it's not really necessary etc etc. Seems to have always thought people are asking more of me simply because I'm younger and they can get away with it! 
It took us a while to get all the evidence we needed from my parents and my Dad was getting increasingly frustrated because it started with the estate agents even before the solicitors as you've pointed out. He was also worried about someone like estate agents having unnecessary info (which I do understand) as not as strict as solicitors for data. We managed to provide a lot of statements but black out areas so my Dad felt less intruded on and that was accepted. Full versions were then provided to the solicitors but he'd accepted it more by then! 

bris

The letter will always be needed.

It doesn't matter how long it's sat in your account, it how it got there in the first place that matters.