Is it normal for estate agent to request proof of ability to pay or can this go solely through solicitor?

[Elwyn]

When buying a house, is it normal for estate agent to insist on seeing proof of ability to pay or is this something that a buyer can insist only goes through the solicitor (due to mistrust of estate agents since not aware of any estate agent code of conduct /practice - perhaps mumsnetters know otherwise) ?

Yes it's totally normal. You can just show a bank statement or a bank statement and decision in principle.

Do you mean that they want to see that you have the funds available to buy the house?

You must mean that I guess.

They don't always, but it's not that unsual.

We were asked this after the estate agent confirmed the seller was happy with our offer. I wouldn't provide firm details any earlier than that as they might use it as a tool to get more money out of you. Vague conversations about mortgage vs cash would be fine.

I am sure you can show the details to your solicitor and they are then able to vouch for you to the estate agent. I did this as didnt want ea knowing about my financial affairs and it was fine.

Perfectly normal for estate agents to ask to see an in principle offer of a mortgage, proof of funds - but as pp says, you should be able to get your solicitor to vouch for you.

Remember the EA acts for the vendor. Having been stung several times (taken house of market, missed viewings, only to find supppsed buyer pulled out after a month or so because they couldn't find a mortgage) I'd certainly want proof that the person had the financial wherewithal to go ahead before I accepted an offer.

Normal. You could show it to the solicitor and get them to confirm it but that will add a delay to the process meanwhile someone else could come along and make another offer that the vendor accepts.

I would always show it to a solicitor and ask them to write to confirm that the amount you have offered - once an EA knows you have more money than you offered, it could get ugly...

Yes, get the solicitor to confirm unless it's easy for you to send to the agent a blanked out bank statement with confidential things like other money and transactions and account numbers on it crossed out first.

Solicitors will often ask about source of funds by the way too - where did you get the money you are using for this transaction from (much more intrusive than things used to be. There is so little privacy these days).

Yes, I've been asked to show proof of funds before. I was a cash buyer and they wanted proof I could complete on the contract before they signed it. It didn't really bother me, I could quite understand it as they were in a pretty dire financial state and if the house didn't sell quickly the banks were going to step in. They needed to know I wasn't just tyre kicking.

I'm a trainee solicitor working in conveyancing at the moment and I'd say that was normal.

And Eustace it probably does seem like we're being nosy ,but we have very strict rules to make sure big time criminals aren't using us for money laundering so we have to verify the sources of large sums of money!

I'll think you'll find Eustace is a solicitor Iam.