Gifted deposit from abroad mortgage query

poppycat1102

Does anyone have any insight re gifted deposits from abroad? My parents have a business in Canada and have sent me over some money towards my house deposit. They withdrew it out of their business account into their personal joint account then sent it to my current account. Will lenders look at this negatively? They are essentially withdrawing it as 'salary' then giving to me but I have read some lenders do not want money from foreign business accounts. I am finding mortgages very difficult to navigate. If relevant the LTV will be 85% and I am buying with my partner so not all money coming from abroad. We are looking to take out our mortgage with Santander. 

Brie

My folks did something similar quite a few years back and the bank couldn't care less about it.  But regs have changed a tad so you may need to document the source of your deposit.  Paper trail showing what account it came from and how it got into yours. 

Slightly different but 6 years back MiL gave us a hefty chunk so we could move (& she moved in with us) and the bank wanted a letter provided via our solicitor where MiL signed to say it was a gift outright and she did not consider herself to own any portion of the house.  All very civilised.

kingstreet

Some lenders won't accept deposit gifts from outside the UK and the solicitor you choose to represent you will have additional documentary requirements.

kingstreet

Santander Criteria;-

Gifted deposit funds from abroad

Please note for gifted deposit applications where the funds are received from abroad, there are some additional requirements we may ask for to evidence the deposit.

• Date of birth and address of person(s) providing the gift
• Details of how the person(s) providing the gift built up the funds
• If this was from savings, please provide their occupation and salary details
• If this was from sale of property, please provide full details with evidence of ownership and sale
• Copy of bank statement(s) from the person(s) providing the gift showing the money being transferred into the applicant’s account
• Copy of bank statement(s) from the applicant(s) showing the full deposit amount and evidence of the gifted funds being credited into the account
• A letter from each person providing the gift including their title and full name, date of birth, address, gift amount and their relationship to the applicant(s). In addition, they must confirm that the gift is non-repayable and the person(s) providing the gift is not the present owner of the property being purchased, will not be living in the property on or after completion and will not retain any legal interest (including second charge) in the property being purchased. This letter must be signed and dated.

user1977

poppycat1102 said:

My parents have a business in Canada and have sent me over some money towards my house deposit. They withdrew it out of their business account into their personal joint account then sent it to my current account. 

Who is the "business account" held by? I think a difficulty may be whether the source of the funds is your parents (likely to be acceptable to a lender) rather than, say, a Canadian corporation (even if that happens to be controlled by your parents).

poppycat1102

@user1977 It is held by my parents - it is a farm. 

user1977

poppycat1102 said:

@user1977 It is held by my parents - it is a farm. 

Ok - the fact it's a business account probably isn't a complication then.

user1977

mortgageFTB said:

Some solicitors won’t act for you if your funds come from abroad.

I would think it quite unusual for a firm to have such a blanket exclusion (given how many "bank of mum & dad" cases these days involve foreign-based family).

But in general I would expect at least more caution, and more hoops to jump through (foreign-notarised ID, translation of any documents which aren't in English, etc).