Completion balance far higher than expected

thebratprince

Hi all,

We are second from the top in a chain of 4, hoping to exchange on our house sale and purchase next week.

However we've received the draft completion balance from our solicitor and it's far, far higher than we expected. We estimated needing 12-14k maximum in order to complete. It's more like 22k. We simply don't have that much money set aside for it.

We can't borrow any more money on the mortgage, we're already borrowing the max amount (85% LTV) we're allowed by our lender since I have adverse credit, there's no wiggle room there. 

Is there anything stopping friends and family pitching in and giving us a bit more money to make up the shortfall? It's not a gifted deposit, it's not needed for exchange etc, it's just the final balance due to the solicitors. So I'm assuming this will be okay? 

Otherwise, we have no idea what to do. 

[Deleted User]

Will the stamp duty cut announced today help?

Tell your vendor that you are lowering your offer.

anselld

Have you checked the numbers for accuracy?  Where is the difference with your own estimates?

Technically it is not OK to receive further loans or gifts which were not declared in the mortgage process, however it seems unlikely anyone could find out about it at this late stage as presumably all the source of funds checks have already been completed.

housebuyer143

That's a lot, was it not a fixed rate? £10k seems extortion. 

The solicitor will want to money launder check anyone giving you large sums of money and that will n no doubt come with additional fees.

The solicitor knows how much money you have in your accounts right, as they should have asked for bank statements.

thebratprince

Yeah, we've checked the statement and it works out, unfortunately. We miscalculated our net sale proceeds somehow, leading to the unexpected shortfall.

We can cobble together 18k ish between me and my husband. I might ask our solicitor whether it would be acceptable to make up the last few grand with family's money. Surely if they deposit 5k into my account and we pay that on completion, it is okay? First time buying and selling at the same time, unsure of the processes.

user1977

Contributing towards fees etc may be ok, but contribution towards the price is likely to be viewed as a gifted deposit (at best). Just talk to your solicitor.

anselld

thebratprince said:

 I might ask our solicitor whether it would be acceptable to make up the last few grand with family's money. Surely if they deposit 5k into my account and we pay that on completion, it is okay?

You might prefer you had not asked a question to which you might not like the answer.

biscan25

thebratprince said:

Yeah, we've checked the statement and it works out, unfortunately. We miscalculated our net sale proceeds somehow, leading to the unexpected shortfall.

We can cobble together 18k ish between me and my husband. I might ask our solicitor whether it would be acceptable to make up the last few grand with family's money. Surely if they deposit 5k into my account and we pay that on completion, it is okay? First time buying and selling at the same time, unsure of the processes.

There's no way they would find out. As far as they are concerned, you've passed AML checks and have enough clean funds to proceed with the sale. Did you heed @[Deleted User] 's comment on stamp duty. That is effective immediately and is worth £2,500 if the property is over £250k.

thebratprince

@biscan25 that's what I thought. The SDLT news is a bit of a relief at least.

I've asked our solicitor whether what we're planning is acceptable.

user1977

biscan25 said:

thebratprince said:

Yeah, we've checked the statement and it works out, unfortunately. We miscalculated our net sale proceeds somehow, leading to the unexpected shortfall.

We can cobble together 18k ish between me and my husband. I might ask our solicitor whether it would be acceptable to make up the last few grand with family's money. Surely if they deposit 5k into my account and we pay that on completion, it is okay? First time buying and selling at the same time, unsure of the processes.

There's no way they would find out. As far as they are concerned, you've passed AML checks and have enough clean funds to proceed with the sale.

I'm not sure how you can come to that view. Solicitors ought to be checking where the final payment has actually come from.

biscan25

user1977 said:

biscan25 said:

thebratprince said:

Yeah, we've checked the statement and it works out, unfortunately. We miscalculated our net sale proceeds somehow, leading to the unexpected shortfall.

We can cobble together 18k ish between me and my husband. I might ask our solicitor whether it would be acceptable to make up the last few grand with family's money. Surely if they deposit 5k into my account and we pay that on completion, it is okay? First time buying and selling at the same time, unsure of the processes.

There's no way they would find out. As far as they are concerned, you've passed AML checks and have enough clean funds to proceed with the sale.

I'm not sure how you can come to that view. Solicitors ought to be checking where the final payment has actually come from.

Do they do this? How? I paid mine as a series of 15 faster payments from 3 accounts over 5 days.