Help with Chaps

helpneededurgently

Hi. Not sure if this is in the right place but here goes.
I'm in the process of selling my late mother's house. Sale agreed and due to exchange & complete on the 29th April. His solicitor made CHAPS payment from Lloyds Bank to AIB. As of now 10th May the money hasn't arrived. His solicitor has received notification that money has left account but still not received at AIB. They use HSBC as an Intermediary. No one is telling me anything but my solicitors are suggesting re-marketing the house. A trace was done and on 8/5 his solicitor informed mine that checks had been completed and the money would soon be released. Still nothing.
Can it take this long? What can have happened?

Hoenir

What checks had been performed? 

helpneededurgently

I don't know. I can't speak to the purchasers solicitor as I'm not his client. I can't chase anything with banks as I've not exchanged contracts and my solicitors say they can't do anything. I'm in limbo.

wmb194

helpneededurgently said:

Hi. Not sure if this is in the right place but here goes.
I'm in the process of selling my late mother's house. Sale agreed and due to exchange & complete on the 29th April. His solicitor made CHAPS payment from Lloyds Bank to AIB. As of now 10th May the money hasn't arrived. His solicitor has received notification that money has left account but still not received at AIB. They use HSBC as an Intermediary. No one is telling me anything but my solicitors are suggesting re-marketing the house. A trace was done and on 8/5 his solicitor informed mine that checks had been completed and the money would soon be released. Still nothing.
Can it take this long? What can have happened?

If it came from a solicitor’s account it’s up to the purchaser’s solicitor to have Lloyds trace where the money is. You’d think that they would be in a hurry to resolve this as well…

helpneededurgently

They have chased it and traced it. Lloyds says its with AIB. AIB say they haven't received it. It's stuck with an Intermediary bank, HSBC, apparently. Or is it possible AIB have received it but not released it yo my solicitors account. Does anyone think after this time that it may miraculously appear or is it now a lost cause. Do I wait or remarket

retiredbanker1

Is this to a UK AIB branch or to an Irish one??

CHAPS would be used to a UK branch - otherwise it would be an International Money Transfer - using SEPA /IBAN numbers.

helpneededurgently

I don't know. I can't find any branches in the UK so I imagine it's Ireland. Would that make a difference to the timeliness. I understand the purchasers surname could have raised a flag...

wmb194

helpneededurgently said:

I don't know. I can't find any branches in the UK so I imagine it's Ireland. Would that make a difference to the timeliness. I understand the purchasers surname could have raised a flag...

No, it has a branch in London and others in Northern Ireland.

https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/sterling-current-account

https://aibni.co.uk/branchlocator

helpneededurgently

Can the money be held or returned to Lloyds or will it eventually make its way to AIB? Tearing my hair out with the thought of remarketing as I live over 3 hours away and it's now been empty for 8 months.

eskbanker

I think you need to have a proper conversation with your solicitor about this - if they routinely use an AIB account that necessitates transactions being routed via an intermediary then this must happen often, and they should be used to it.

Having said that, if your solicitor already suggested remarketing, that seems premature to me, and the comment about the purchaser's name potentially raising flags (this shouldn't in any way affect a CHAPS transfer between solicitor accounts) adds to the suspicion that something isn't right here....

Shakin_Steve

helpneededurgently said:

I don't know. I can't find any branches in the UK so I imagine it's Ireland. Would that make a difference to the timeliness. I understand the purchasers surname could have raised a flag...

Purchasers surname? Putin? Escobar?