Proof of funds for gifted stamp duty money?

Thrugelmir

ce5656 said:

Snookie12cat said:

Slithery said:

Snookie12cat said:

You can ask to file and pay the stamp duty yourself so it doesn't need to go through them

Not if you need a mortgage.

Not true according to the stamp duty department, and the mortgage lender. Just another thing solicitors tell you, which doesn't seem to ring true.

That’s actually a good point which I never thought of! Other than the money my mum sent me, every penny in my account comes from my salary which I have years of payslips to prove. If I ask to pay stamp duty myself and demonstrate that the deposit money which will go through the solicitor’s account has trackable source, they should have no reason to question me any further?

Why would you backtrack on previous events other than to cover something up?  Your word alone has no substance. People that attempt to block generally are found to be lying. 

user1977

Snookie12cat said:

Slithery said:

Snookie12cat said:

You can ask to file and pay the stamp duty yourself so it doesn't need to go through them

Not if you need a mortgage.

Not true according to the stamp duty department, and the mortgage lender. Just another thing solicitors tell you, which doesn't seem to ring true.

HMRC won't care about how the returns get submitted and paid, as long as somebody does, and it seems likely you spoke to somebody at the lender who doesn't know what their solicitor instructions actually say. This is from the UK Lenders Handbook, which is the standard set of instructions almost all lenders use:

"10.4 You are only authorised to release the loan when you hold sufficient funds to complete the purchase of the property and pay all stamp duty land tax and registration fees to perfect the security as a first legal mortgage or, if you do not have them, you accept responsibility to pay them yourself.

10.5 Before releasing the loan when the borrower is purchasing the property you must either hold a properly completed and executed stamp duty land tax form or you must hold an appropriate authority from the borrower allowing you to file the necessary stamp duty land tax return(s) on completion."

So before completion can happen, the solicitor must be in a position to submit the SDLT return and pay any duty.

greensalad

We had an exact similar argument, we were gifted our stamp duty but found it hard to prove that it was a separate amount from our saved deposit. In the end, we just signed the paperwork. £180 + VAT doesn't sound too bad to just get this out of your way and move on.

ce5656

Thrugelmir said:

ce5656 said:

Snookie12cat said:

Slithery said:

Snookie12cat said:

You can ask to file and pay the stamp duty yourself so it doesn't need to go through them

Not if you need a mortgage.

Not true according to the stamp duty department, and the mortgage lender. Just another thing solicitors tell you, which doesn't seem to ring true.

That’s actually a good point which I never thought of! Other than the money my mum sent me, every penny in my account comes from my salary which I have years of payslips to prove. If I ask to pay stamp duty myself and demonstrate that the deposit money which will go through the solicitor’s account has trackable source, they should have no reason to question me any further?

Why would you backtrack on previous events other than to cover something up?  Your word alone has no substance. People that attempt to block generally are found to be lying. 

I’m not sure what makes you think I’m trying to cover anything up. All three solicitors involved are well aware of my situation. My lender approved my mortgage application before I received funds from my mum. I do have enough from myself for the deposit part, just not enough to cover the stamp duty. 

I agree with previous posts that if deposit plus stamp duty goes into the solicitor’s account in one transaction, they need to know the source of every penny. In fact when my original solicitor left the firm and the temporary cover solicitor told me no document is needed anymore, I was rather surprised. What I find annoying is the third solicitor asking my mum to prepare everything all over again because she’s already done it last November. I haven’t asked her yet but she wasn’t very happy that she needed to prepare those documents and find a certified translator to translate them in the first place. She did it at the end but I thought before I bother her again on this, I need to be sure that the solicitor is being reasonable. 

If I were to pay stamp duty myself, the money wouldn’t go through the solicitor, my lender shouldn’t mind and I’d assume that HMRC shouldn’t have a problem either? I never thought of this before but it could be a way to resolve this. 

Schwarzwald

ce5656 said:

If I were to pay stamp duty myself, the money wouldn’t go through the solicitor, my lender shouldn’t mind and I’d assume that HMRC shouldn’t have a problem either? I never thought of this before but it could be a way to resolve this. 

You should read the responses to your initial question, one person just quoted why the above is probably not working and that Lenders indeed do mind

Schwarzwald

I would argue with your solicitor that you have already done it once and therefore shld not be charged again.
but probably it is a AML tick-the-box exercise and usually it is hard to get around these. So aim at not paying the fee, but get prepared for you mum needing to renew the certifications

ce5656

Schwarzwald said:

ce5656 said:

If I were to pay stamp duty myself, the money wouldn’t go through the solicitor, my lender shouldn’t mind and I’d assume that HMRC shouldn’t have a problem either? I never thought of this before but it could be a way to resolve this. 

You should read the responses to your initial question, one person just quoted why the above is probably not working and that Lenders indeed do mind

Yes I just saw that! Thanks for the response anyways. I guess I have to wait for this third solicitor to come back with what she has to say then. Her colleagues are not helping this situation by telling me different things.

ce5656

Schwarzwald said:

I would argue with your solicitor that you have already done it once and therefore shld not be charged again.
but probably it is a AML tick-the-box exercise and usually it is hard to get around these. So aim at not paying the fee, but get prepared for you mum needing to renew the certifications

I’m glad you said this - it wasn’t my fault that the first solicitor left the company and the third one is now in charge! I suspect that first solicitor just sat on my mum’s documents for weeks and weeks without doing anything and the third solicitor now considers it outdated!

grumiofoundation

Snookie12cat said:

Slithery said:

Snookie12cat said:

You can ask to file and pay the stamp duty yourself so it doesn't need to go through them

Not if you need a mortgage.

Not true according to the stamp duty department, and the mortgage lender. Just another thing solicitors tell you, which doesn't seem to ring true.

Which mortgage lender told you this - or are you saying all mortgage lenders? As posted above by User1977 this doesn't appear to be correct based on actual documents. Where did you get this information from?

aoleks

The deposit needs a letter, any other costs are your own business. If you want to pay your stamp duty by taking out cash from a credit card, then so be it.

Your solicitor is being excessive…