We are lucky enough to be able to buy a small flat for cash. The solicitor asked us for full ID half way through the sales process, passport, bills etc , and I thought that was the end of the money laundering stuff. Now, just before completion, although it wont hold things up I hope, hes asking for more details about where the money is from. I wrote back it is made up of part life savings, part my husbands retirement lump sum from 4 years ago, and part inheritence from my parent who died this year. I thought that would be enough to cover the solicitor. Oh no, he wants a letter from the probate solicitor confirming values, letter from my husbands pension co. and letter from solicitor confirming the sale of my parents property. I replied Id done probate myself, so no letter there, my husbands pension money had been awarded to his name, not mine , so how would that validate me,but that I could provide a sale paper for the property. What alternative paperwork would they accept? Letter back saying please send all the paperwork you have in relation to all sources of money,property,pension award etc, and we will look through and see what we'll accept. Well, Im totally legit, so no problem, but I feel our privacy is being over invaded having to send so much personal stuff. What do you others think?
I think if you were laundering drug money, you would have all the forged documents at the ready, most criminals know the system. But joking aside, this is just another opportunity for the Solicitors to drag things out, at £50 per letter, so nice business !, whos the real crook !
i think it's just part of the legal system, it's not like they are going through ur underwear draw seriously though, if you have nothing to hide or worrying about, just hand what you have over
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He who laughs last didn't get the joke.
Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow they may make it illegal.
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.
Our solicitor didn't ask for any info as to where our savings came from. Just the usual utility bill and passport, right at the beginning of proceedings. I don't know if it depends on the amounts involved - I think our deposit was only around £50K, the rest was mortgage. Anyway she was quite relaxed about the money laundering aspect - perhaps because I actually went in and met her several times as she was local, rather than doing it all via the post.
When I put a large lump sum into the Halifax (who have always been very money-laundering fixated in my experience) even they merely asked where the money came from, I said it was my partner's annual bonus, and they just wrote that down. They didn't ask for paperwork. Your solicitor's requests do sound excessive to me.
I seems a bit ott but when you consider that if you are laundering your cocaine money the solicitor is liable to prosicution as well. Something has tweeked his antena so you just have to put up with it.
I think it depends on the solicitors. On a recent investment cash purchase the solicitors didn't ask for any proof of the origin of funds. However, when a friend recently put a similarly-sized deposit down on a property, his solicitors started demanding the answers to all sorts of questions as to the origins of the funds!
I know someone else who was asked for more info on their money at the last minute - I think they were not cash buyers but had a hefty deposit. They had sold their previous home some years before and had been in rented accomodation since. They put their deposit into the husbands business account as they thought it would transfer more quickly from there but ended up getting a load of grief from the solicitor the day before completion.
Here's a good one! Sorry if you have heard it before on another website
I run a limited company.
Last October my property was rented out in the normal fashion deposits rents etc through a Letting Agent that I had never used before but the Manager knew me as he had been my letting agent when he worked in a previous Agency.
His Company couldn't, wouldn't, release my rent money until I had gone to the office personally and showed my passport and two utility bills to be photographed and recorded!! So I went in.....all done... I demanded that I have a copy, for my records, of his company registration documents for my company records to ensure that his company was not a front for money laundering purposes! They were absolutely dumb-founded but as I explained to them they had no more right to ask me for identity and proof than I had to them so they should comply to my request or I would inform the Inland Revenue that his Company was not abiding by the rules as laid down by the IR on money laundering. I sent a letter to the Managing Director but needless to say I received no reply.
I once took out a personal loan with the H*l*f*x. They paid the money into my bank account. The next time, I went into the bank- the girl said ,all girl detective, 'And WHERE did you get this money from?' 'Umm- YOU?'
This is a real occupational hazard these days. The exchange on our recent purchase nearly missed the deadline cos the solicitor for the FTB at the bottom of the change was totally ridiculous over the cash deposit the guy had made. It was a telegraphic transfer from his bank but he said it did not have a sufficient reference so insisted the guy left work, went home to get his bank statement then fax it over to him.
Money laundering regs and solicitors - a potentially disasterous mix.
I've had the problem of getting quite a large sum of cash from my business to my personal account then out in cash to pay my builder for a significant amount of work (see my "Beware Surveys" thread).
My bank has been very "co-operative" (ahem!), suggesting I did it in several chunks over 3 weeks. All gone fine, though I'm anticipating a knock on the front door at any moment!
------------------------------ 35% constitutes neither a majority nor a mandate
So I went in.....all done... I demanded that I have a copy, for my records, of his company registration documents for my company records to ensure that his company was not a front for money laundering purposes!
I LOVE THAT ONE MEL !!! Bet it gave you that warm tingly feeling inside that only justified smugness can bring, for days!
When we re-mortgaged two years ago, I did it four months early to secure a fixed rate. I had to estimate the redemption figure and borrowed about £250 too much. I had to complete a form, one of the questions was 'What do you intend to do with the extra money?' I replied 'I might have my hair done.'
Cheeky beggars...
___________________________
There are 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't.
Difficult one, but your Solicitor has to satisfy money laundering legislation, and your Solicitor will be held accountable if the right checks were not done. Basically, you are buying a property for Miss Smith, using funds from Mrs Smith, who got the money from Mr Smith. The Solicitor would be negligent if no further checks were made. Buying property using laundered money is a known fraud. Once you have supplied the Solicitor with further evidence, I am sure everything will be fine.
Originally posted by decca: I once took out a personal loan with the H*l*f*x. They paid the money into my bank account. The next time, I went into the bank- the girl said ,all girl detective, 'And WHERE did you get this money from?' 'Umm- YOU?'
Jeez........
I have a mental picture of this girl - 17/18? first job out of school, just done the 'how to spot a money laundering criminal' course (passed), out to impress as the regional manager is in today.
Mr L and I went to the building society to move some money from our ordinary account into one of their investment accounts.
after all the producing-passports bit had been gone through and the documents ready to be signed, the lady produced another form asking us did we own our house or rent, was it mortgaged, and how much was it valued at? wtf? (no, I didn't exactly say that).
behind every successful man is a disbelieving mother-in-law
after all the producing-passports bit had been gone through and the documents ready to be signed, the lady produced another form asking us did we own our house or rent, was it mortgaged, and how much was it valued at? wtf? (no, I didn't exactly say that).
Originally posted by decca: I once took out a personal loan with the H*l*f*x. They paid the money into my bank account. The next time, I went into the bank- the girl said ,all girl detective, 'And WHERE did you get this money from?' 'Umm- YOU?'
Jeez........
I have a mental picture of this girl - 17/18? first job out of school, just done the 'how to spot a money laundering criminal' course (passed), out to impress as the regional manager is in today.
I think you've hit the nail on the head Karen
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I quite understand the need for the solicitor to cover his back, Im not complaining at having to send proof. Im complaining at being told I have to send everything Ive got from every source to be 'considered'. I still think thats a cheek that I have to virtually submit my total lifestyle /spending habits/ family history/ and everything else , so they can have a nose and pick and choose what they want. They know the situation of how the money has come about ,because Ive told them, so I dont think its beyond the realms of reasonableness for me to expect THEM to question me to see what documentation Ive got, and then give ME the choice of what Ill send them from the options that would satisfy them. Whats wrong with that?
Originally posted by Cypriana: So I went in.....all done... I demanded that I have a copy, for my records, of his company registration documents for my company records to ensure that his company was not a front for money laundering purposes!
I LOVE THAT ONE MEL !!! Bet it gave you that warm tingly feeling inside that only justified smugness can bring, for days!
I did it to show just how bl**dy stupid this whole thing is becoming and more to the point every Company has a rule book on Money Laundering ( including me!) and how to go about it....this wasn't the way, in as much, they were making up their own rules as they seem fit. Welcome to T. Blair's Paranoid Britain! Mel.
seriously though, if you have nothing to hide or worrying about, just hand what you have over
All Hail the mighty hamsters!