Estate agent asking for proof of unds

Balooney2000_2

Our son is buying his first property. His deposit was money left to him by relatives and is held in a savings account. He has sent a copy of the savings account to the estate agent as proof of funds.

The estate agent has asked how he obtained the money. They have been told it was inheritance but now want to see the will and copy of probate for the person. They insist the copy of probate must show the estate value - but that is not releavnt to them .

Is this normal, and why is the savings account showing the money not good enough?

UnderOffer

Get him to ask his solicitor what documentation is required for proof of funds, provide this to his solicitor and ask them to drop email to Estate Agent confirming they’ve seen sight of his deposit etc., and can confirm funding is in place. 

anselld

It is a bit OTT but they are required by law to confirm source of funds.
Probate certificate will show estate value anyway and it is in public domain anyway so you are not giving away anything private.

Balooney2000_2

Thanks, why is the savings account statement not enough? Afterall he might have just saved the money!

user1977

Who dealt with the estate? If it was, say, a solicitor acting for (or as) executors, presumably they corresponded with your son, so he should have something on file?

His solicitor is likely to be looking even more carefully at the source of funds so he will need to be prepared to answer these queries rather than raise even more suspicion by being obstructive.

tacpot12

Balooney2000_2 said:

Thanks, why is the savings account statement not enough? Afterall he might have just saved the money!

Because he told them he inherited the money. If he had saved it, he would have had to have provided statements showing the money accumulating over time.  

Mr.Generous

It varies from agent to agent. Some just ask to see a statement, some take copies - I remove acc number and sort code!! Never been asked by EA to show where funds came from to get into the account. The law changed in 2018 with extra checks and the agent should do what yours is doing now, but also its the solicitor who does the detailed money laundering checks. Your agent sounds more professional than many. I'm in the process of buying a cheap house to rent out and they just glanced at statements and said "that's fine, I've seen them" and no copies taken. Purchase price was very low however - £73k.

grumiofoundation

Balooney2000_2 said:

Thanks, why is the savings account statement not enough? Afterall he might have just saved the money!

Because many of the reasons a large amount of money could appear suddenly are rather dodgy. Hence proof being asked for.

As above if saved most of it would been in there for an extended period of time. 

thegreenone

Money laundering checks.  Your son needs to provide a paper trail ie the day the money arrived in his bank account, where it came from and where he put it afterwards plus a copy of the Will showing where it came from.  

I have promised my sons a sum of money from my inheritance from my late Mum.  I have already printed copies of my bank statement for the day it dropped into my bank account and its exit to the holding account and I'm ready to do a statement of Gift with a local solicitor when eldest finds a flat he likes.

eddddy

HMRC have been cracking down on estate agents who breach money laundering regulations, and fining them.

(For example, one estate agent was prosecuted, sentenced to 120 hours of community service, and banned from acting as an estate agent for 2 years - for failing to apply for money laundering registration.)  


So I suspect that estate agents have suddenly become a lot more diligent about doing all their money laundering checks.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hmrc-cracks-down-on-unlawful-estate-agents

ReadingTim

They're asking for proof because people lie - if you got the money from selling drugs or robbing people you're hardly going to admit it are you?!?