Gifted deposit.. Help 8 March at 11:03PM in House buying, renting & selling 29 replies 3K views

hilladnama

Can someone help me out with this, I was gifted a deposit for my home by a family member two years ago, it was a signed statement to comply with anti money laundering etc, now got letter from a solicitor saying they want it back as it was an investment, by either selling my property or I add them to my title deeds..
I took advice and was told that a court action could be raised though the chance of success would be minimal due to the gifted letter, has anyone had experience of this.. I'm worried sick.. 
P. S. The family member is due to pay fees for losing a personal injury claim, I suspect this is the reason why this is now happening, though this info wouldn't be admissible in court. 
Thanks

MorningcoffeeIV

If they stated it was a gift, they're not getting it back.

Doesn't matter if anyone else has experienced it.

Schwarzwald

probably helpfyl to state the total amount and the exact wording of the referenced "signed statement", but generally speaking if they dont have a signed loan agreement or similar, probably difficult for them to claim it back in any case

loubel

Was it a gift or a loan? 

If it was a gift and they signed paperwork to state this then they are going to have a hard time arguing that they should be repaid.

How close a family member are they? 

Marvel1

They wrote a letter or statement confirming its a gift, and that is what it is.

Brie

if you don't ask you don't get.  And even if you ask sometimes you don't get.

user1977

hilladnama said:

it was an investment

What evidence do they say they have of this?

Annisele

hilladnama said:

I took advice and was told that a court action could be raised though the chance of success would be minimal due to the gifted letter, has anyone had experience of this.. I'm worried sick..

I wouldn't worry about the first part of that. If I knew who you were, I could raise a court action against you and say that I was owed a share of your house. I'd get laughed out of court (and the case would probably be dismissed on the papers before I even got near a court room). But I could pay my fee and make my claim, then I'd lose my fee - and possibly more besides, depending on how much of a nuisance I made of myself - as soon as anybody actually looked at the specifics.

If it really was a gift, and you have a signed statement showing that it was a gift, then your relative is going to have a very uphill struggle to somehow persuade a judge that it was a loan.

If you've been doing something that's incompatible with it being a gift - eg the family member "gifted" £10k to you, and immediately afterwards you started "gifting" the family member £200 per month even though you'd never done that before - then things might be different. But a true gift with signed confirmation that it's a gift will look to a judge very much like a gift.

Keep_pedalling

If you also needed a mortgage then the mortgage company would have required a declaration that this was a gift, in which case they are stuffed.

diystarter7

Hi

From memory, I think we signed a letter to the lender saying it was a gift.

A gift is a gift and a loan is a loan

It is worrying OP but if papers signed, let them waste their money

Is it a substantial amount, more than 50k or more than 500kk. If its more than 500k, they will try and around 50k, may be but less than that, once they've paid a solictors for a consultation of a few hundred quid, they will rethingk and become good friends and tell you a sob story to get somehting back

It's the principle, dont give it back and you dont have to

Thnaks

hilladnama

Thank you everyone, the paperwork has stated how much was gifted, non repayable etc as was part of the paperwork required for my mortgage solicitor. 
Fingers crossed.