Chain broken - possible money laundering

booksandbikes

user1977 said:

AML checks including checking the source of funds when it actually arrives at the solicitor, which is typically immediately before completion - not something which can be completed far in advance.

Oh I didn't realise this! I thought it all happened at the start of the process, when they were checking source of funds. It took our estate agent just over a week to do checks on our buyer - I assumed they were AML checks?

But, it sounds like the solicitors do checks again when money has been transferred?

user1977

booksandbikes said:

user1977 said:

AML checks including checking the source of funds when it actually arrives at the solicitor, which is typically immediately before completion - not something which can be completed far in advance.

But, it sounds like the solicitors do checks again when money has been transferred?

Yes, not much point looking at the client's "clean" money at the start if what they end up sending you is "dirty" money.

Mildreds_Earrings

Hoenir said:

Tale of the story appears to be don't get caught up in other people's games. 

I don't know what that means........We have been on a less than merry roller coaster. We were meant to exchange and complete, then the day before it was suddenly cancelled, then we put the property back on the market, then we were told they could exchange after all!

I don't know how that could be translated as getting 'caught up in other people's games'. It was hardly out of choice! 😳

Anyway, all sorted now, thankfully 😊

Mildreds_Earrings

HouseMartin567 said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Thanks for all your replies. 

I don't know how changing Solicitor will make any difference 🙄 but we cannot afford to wait, as nobody seems able to tell us how long this will take, or even whether a new Solicitor means they'll pass the AML checks. 

The property went back on the market today (sigh) 😒

Just thought I'd give an update...... The property went back on the market for £10k higher than the offer we accepted. The Buyers saw the advert and this panicked them into action. I then received a jubilant call from our Solicitor saying they wanted to exchange today and complete on Friday. We're beyond happy 🥳🥳🥳

That’s great news! Good luck with the move. Any chance you know how they resolved the issue? I presume they just managed to provide their original solicitor with enough information to satisfy them (which would beg the question why they couldn’t have done that earlier!).

Hello @HouseMartin567 there are three of us in the chain. It now appears that the 1st Buyer in the chain DID change Solicitor early last week (we only found out Thursday, when the chain collapsed) and somehow, this new Solicitor managed to get their monetary evidence approved for the AML checks and it passed compliance. How they managed to change Solicitor and be ready to exchange within a week, we don't know or care, just relieved that we have exchanged and all being well, will complete this week.

Apologies for the misleading headline about possible money laundering but that's what the estate agent told us!

Thanks again for all your replies and assistance 😊

Myci85

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Hoenir said:

Tale of the story appears to be don't get caught up in other people's games. 

I don't know what that means........We have been on a less than merry roller coaster. We were meant to exchange and complete, then the day before it was suddenly cancelled, then we put the property back on the market, then we were told they could exchange after all!

I don't know how that could be translated as getting 'caught up in other people's games'. It was hardly out of choice! 😳

Anyway, all sorted now, thankfully 😊

I wonder if Hoenir meant that by not hanging around and waiting for them to mess you around, but putting the property straight back on the market, this was you not getting caught up in their games, and it worked.