Abdalla
Collected on:
Be very careful if you are a cash buyer
This review is for a different branch.
I purchased a house in 2023 as a part cash buyer for £305k. Part of the funds were from a sale of a £145k terraced property. The rest was partly cash savings over quite a few years. They were generally compiled in a bank account. A solicitor at the firm wanted to see incremental flow of money into the bank account but as the funds were significant the full story was more complex, multiple old bank accounts some already closed at that point. There was monthly flow into the saving account but that did not go far enough. It was also not enough that I earn as a medical doctor in the region of £100k annually. The solicitor was only convinced after she saw funds flowing from an old saving account containing part of the savings (closed at that point). In summary, significant annual earnings statements was not enough, a savings account showing money over a period of time was not enough, other accounts was not enough. Even that secondary (closed) bank account that eventually satisfied her did not tell the full story. How far would you go back to prove a point and prove that I am not a money laundering criminal? 20 years? Because following the same logic it should have not stopped with the secondary account (where did the money flowing into that account come from for example, needing a miserable evidence of flow of money over years back still). I did not have this experience with other property solicitors and you have to be very careful if you are an (honest) cash buyer. Eventually the purchase was successful but at that point there was a real risk of jeopardy, and that particular solicitor did not same to care.
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