Money transferred from Pakistan to uk for House deposit query

Scallywag69

Hi, Our House sale has just fallen through after 2 months apparently due to the buyers funds that were transferred from Pakistan to his UK Bank account which apparently was not a member of the panel of Banks that are allowed to deal with Mortgage transactions, so the buyer transferred the funds to a Bank that was, that Bank is now saying that they won't transfer the Funds because they don't believe his reason of how he aquired the Money. Can anyone tell me whether this scenario actually happens?, the buyer had a perfectly true and plausible reason for how he acquired the money and yet they can pull the rug from you and cause such a lot of inconvenience and time wasting by acting so badly!

Ebe_Scrooge

Sounds like standard Aniti-Money-Laundering checks coming into play.  Banks have a legal obligation (which is strictly enforced) to investigate any suspicion of money-laundering.  Large sums of money coming from abroad are an obvious warning flag that would trigger further checks.

sheramber

A large deposit into one bank account being quickly transferred out to another bank account will trigger AML action.

Voyager2002

Scallywag69 said:

Hi, Our House sale has just fallen through after 2 months apparently due to the buyers funds that were transferred from Pakistan to his UK Bank account which apparently was not a member of the panel of Banks that are allowed to deal with Mortgage transactions, so the buyer transferred the funds to a Bank that was, that Bank is now saying that they won't transfer the Funds because they don't believe his reason of how he aquired the Money. Can anyone tell me whether this scenario actually happens?, the buyer had a perfectly true and plausible reason for how he acquired the money and yet they can pull the rug from you and cause such a lot of inconvenience and time wasting by acting so badly!

Does it really matter?

Yes, I find this story plausible. The bottom line is that your buyer no longer has a deposit so cannot proceed with the purchase. We have absolutely no idea how long before the funds are released, so in your situation I would commiserate with the buyer and apologise but start to re-market the property. If he gets his money before you have another buyer well and good, but otherwise get on with the sale and the rest of your life.

phillw

Scallywag69 said:

Can anyone tell me whether this scenario actually happens?

Yes, anyone can be asked to prove exactly where the money for a deposit came from in case it's proceedings from crime. A plausible explanation is not evidence.

Although I would have thought they would just refuse to proceed with the mortgage, not keep the deposit.

7sefton

Glad the checks on dodgy money are working 

Ergates

Pakistan is considered a high-risk country for money laundering, so a large lump of money coming in from there and then immediately being moved between accounts in the UK is going to set all sorts of alarm bells ringing.