Cash deposit no solicitor will help

user1977

The problem is that by definition you can't prove that the £6k cash you have now is the same £6k you had x years ago.

saajan_12

Big_dog said:

Hi guy's. We have a cash deposit made up of the following and we're up against solicitors who are refusing to act for us and I need someone who can finish off the mortgage.
A few years ago we sold our business and invested some of the proceeds in to gold bullion ( full audit available) and kept a small cash fund £6k in our home safe. We can prove where the money has come from and now we've sold the gold through a registered UK dealership, all of the funds for the deposit are in my bank account.
We have been accepted for the mortgage by NatWest, but our solicitor has backed out of the mortgage because they aren't happy with the deposit.
Can anyone suggest solicitors who will deal with this as we do have a full money trail that is acceptable for anti  money laundering?

Ultimately there's no clear line for what is 'acceptable' for AML. Its up to a legal professional's judgement. So all the solicitors you've dealt with so far have said no, then it may not be sufficient. 

Physical cash used in a house purchase is going to look abnormal and hence suspect these days. There's inevitably a question as to why the £6k was cashed out as opposed to direct transferred to your bank account.. from the solicitor's perspective, it could be what you say, or it could be a way to introduce dirty money while the business sale proceeds were immediately invested in something else at the time. 

Re what to do - I'd shop it around to a few solicitors, explaining what happened and asking what proof they want upfront, before they do much other work. But do be warned that there may not be a magic green light. 

Hoenir

Big_dog said:

The evidence supplied as of the origin is an invoice and sale document from the solicitors who sold our business 4 years ago, and bank details of the business account of the business that the money was deposited in to. We have also a full trial of the gold investments from bank to dealer and back again.
It seems that the £6k that we took out of the account and aced in our home safe is the issue here.

Were the funds deposited into a bank account in the name of a Limited Company ? 

Big_dog

Hoenir said:

where the funds deposited into a bank account in the name of a Limited Company ? 

Yes. The funds were deposited in to one of the two business accounts that we had. I was the sole director and when the business was sold I had to close the accounts. I placed some straight in to bullion and now have that back. £6k was taken out of the account and placed in the home safe for 3 years

Hoenir

Big_dog said:

Hoenir said:

where the funds deposited into a bank account in the name of a Limited Company ? 

Yes. The funds were deposited in to one of the two business accounts that we had. I was the sole director and when the business was sold I had to close the accounts. I placed some straight in to bullion and now have that back. £6k was taken out of the account and placed in the home safe for 3 years

On the assumption that your accountant dealt with all the taxation aspects of the business being sold.  Have you declared the profit on trading the Gold bullion for CGT purposes ? 

Big_dog

There's no CGT on Britannia coins, so no. but yes to the accountant declaring all of the post closure profits and paying all taxes and revenues
 

sheramber

You say your  mortgage repayments would be higher but you would still have the £6k to top up what you would be paying anyway and you might be able to overpay the mortgage at some point, using the £6k.

silvercar

I think you have options. The easiest would be to borrow £6k more and then overpay the mortgage soon after completion. 

Another option would be to use up the £6k by paying cash for general living costs over the next few weeks or months, to increase the amount of money in your bank accounts and use that. 

Another option would be to pay the solicitor and land registry costs from the £6k, so that the house purchase isn’t coming from this money.

alternatively, do you have a family member that could gift you £6k for now?