Anti-money laundering checks, estate agents and offers

gelato_cat

Have people (especially cash buyers) here experienced situations where they have had to show an estate agent their bank statements etc for anti-money laundering checks when putting in an offer on a house, and then the estate agent has used that information to try and get them to offer more, because the bank statements told them how much cash the buyer has?

MikeJXE

No never, Have to show my solicitor yes but not the EA 

gelato_cat

I've had to show my solicitor, but that was before the 2017 law came in...

user1977

No. Have you? Is it likely? Just because you could afford to pay more doesn't mean you're more likely to be willing to overpay for something. Perhaps you have better things planned for the rest of your money.

anselld

Suzey said:

Have people (especially cash buyers) here experienced situations where they have had to show an estate agent their bank statements etc for anti-money laundering checks when putting in an offer on a house, and then the estate agent has used that information to try and get them to offer more, because the bank statements told them how much cash the buyer has?

EAs are required by law to do AML checks, yes.  They would be idiots to try the second part but no doubt some do.

propertyrental

So move some cash into another account and just show an account statement with the amount you are offering.

Or go through your solicitor's money laundering checks and then get your solicitor to email the agent saying "Yes, my client is good for £X00,000".

EssexHebridean

propertyrental said:

<snip>

Or go through your solicitor's money laundering checks and then get your solicitor to email the agent saying "Yes, my client is good for £X00,000".

Yep - this! ^ 

GDB2222

This is slightly odd. There’s a range of documents that can be used for AML checks. No reason to use a bank statement. 

I assume this is a financial check?

gelato_cat

GDB2222 said:

This is slightly odd. There’s a range of documents that can be used for AML checks. No reason to use a bank statement. 

If you are asked to show the source of funds, then which other documents would satisfy these checks / show an audit trail other than a bank statement?  Do you mean payslips etc?

SiliconChip

GDB2222 said:

This is slightly odd. There’s a range of documents that can be used for AML checks. No reason to use a bank statement. 

The reason is so that the EA can find out how much money is in the account - it's not a good reason for anybody other than the EA (and probably the seller by default) but it is a reason!

GDB2222

Suzey said:

GDB2222 said:

This is slightly odd. There’s a range of documents that can be used for AML checks. No reason to use a bank statement. 

If you are asked to show the source of funds, then which other documents would satisfy these checks / show an audit trail other than a bank statement?  Do you mean payslips etc?

I don’t think the EA has to check source of funds. He only has to check identity.  That’s a legal requirement under AML. 

Separately, a lot of EAs do financial checks, to ensure that a buyer can afford the offer they have made. That’s not a legal requirement, but you may have trouble avoiding it.