Buying for a friend abroad

skycatcher

flaneurs_lobster said:

skycatcher said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Well if you've got a spare £100k knocking about and want to help out a mate, can't see why you wouldn't jump at the chance to own your own chunk of Ireland, albeit briefly.

By nature I'm a cautious person and was just trying see any pitfalls in doing this.....though not sure if were being sarcastic above (if not I apologise!)

No need to apologise, I was being very sarcastic.

Seriously, forget about the land deal, do you know this pal of yours well enough to give them an unsecured loan, on open terms, of £100k?

Or, howabout - 

You buy the land for £100k. Your pal drops dead (or disappears, or doesn't want to be your friend anymore). You are left with a chunk of bog that's really worth £5k. 

There is obviously risks but he would be giving me the money to make the purchase. I would not putting any of my money into the deal.

skycatcher

silvercar said:

Better for your friend to buy through a solicitor and instruct the solicitor not to reveal their identity. The rich and famous must do this all the time. Or they can say it’s for security and let the seller think they are connected to the military/ police/ crime witness….

I shall raise this with him... Thanks.

flaneurs_lobster

skycatcher said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

skycatcher said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Well if you've got a spare £100k knocking about and want to help out a mate, can't see why you wouldn't jump at the chance to own your own chunk of Ireland, albeit briefly.

By nature I'm a cautious person and was just trying see any pitfalls in doing this.....though not sure if were being sarcastic above (if not I apologise!)

No need to apologise, I was being very sarcastic.

Seriously, forget about the land deal, do you know this pal of yours well enough to give them an unsecured loan, on open terms, of £100k?

Or, howabout - 

You buy the land for £100k. Your pal drops dead (or disappears, or doesn't want to be your friend anymore). You are left with a chunk of bog that's really worth £5k. 

There is obviously risks but he would be giving me the money to make the purchase. I would not putting any of my money into the deal.

I thought you had said that you would be using your own funds for the purchase thus obviating any money laundering/proof of source of income concerns?

We'll assume that you know your friend well enough that there's no doubt about the legitimacy of the incoming?

Does he really not know anyone who's domiciled in Eire to do this deal with? The expense and admin of shunting (and maybe converting) this amount of cash cross-border is not trivial. 

user1977

silvercar said:

Better for your friend to buy through a solicitor and instruct the solicitor not to reveal their identity.

How would that work? Who would the seller be contracting with?

(also bear in mind the seller has already refused to sell to the neighbour, so likely to be suspicious about any obvious attempts to obfuscate who is buying)

elsien

skycatcher said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

skycatcher said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Well if you've got a spare £100k knocking about and want to help out a mate, can't see why you wouldn't jump at the chance to own your own chunk of Ireland, albeit briefly.

By nature I'm a cautious person and was just trying see any pitfalls in doing this.....though not sure if were being sarcastic above (if not I apologise!)

No need to apologise, I was being very sarcastic.

Seriously, forget about the land deal, do you know this pal of yours well enough to give them an unsecured loan, on open terms, of £100k?

Or, howabout - 

You buy the land for £100k. Your pal drops dead (or disappears, or doesn't want to be your friend anymore). You are left with a chunk of bog that's really worth £5k. 

There is obviously risks but he would be giving me the money to make the purchase. I would not putting any of my money into the deal.

But then you have still got 100 K coming into your account from an unclear source and then pretty much going straight back out again. Your bank is going to question this.

silvercar

user1977 said:

silvercar said:w

Better for your friend to buy through a solicitor and instruct the solicitor not to reveal their identity.

How would that work? Who would the seller be contracting with?

(also bear in mind the seller has already refused to sell to the neighbour, so likely to be suspicious about any obvious attempts to obfuscate who is buying)

The client of the named solicitor.

user1977

silvercar said:

user1977 said:

silvercar said:w

Better for your friend to buy through a solicitor and instruct the solicitor not to reveal their identity.

How would that work? Who would the seller be contracting with?

(also bear in mind the seller has already refused to sell to the neighbour, so likely to be suspicious about any obvious attempts to obfuscate who is buying)

The client of the named solicitor.

A contract with an unspecified party? Not going to happen.

And in my experience, the rich and famous happily buy property in their own name.

elsien

Or via existing shell companies.

Herzlos

A shell company would definitely be more reasonable to do. But it all depends on the land and how suspicious the seller is. Given it's basically just a field who is going to actually want to buy it?

As for getting a foreign buyer for it, that sounds like an absolute nightmare. It'd be an awful lot easier if your friend could find someone resident to buy it. 

user1977

elsien said:

Or via existing shell companies.

Which might at first glance make it more anonymous, but if it's a UK-registered one it now needs to disclose on Companies House who is controlling it, and increasingly so do other entities.