Buying a house

[purpleme12]

The conveyancers ask for evidence of bank statements showing how you've acquired your savings over the years
Why do they need to know how you've acquired them?

They want to check there's no money laundering going in. Legally they have to check this sort of thing

To make sure it's not drug money.

Anti money laundering rules mean they need proof of where money has come from

My conveyancer (ongoing purchase) didn't ask HOW I'd acquired funds - only that I had them.

Anti money laundering regulations. Solicitors can be sent to prison for failing to comply with their obligations relating to ML.

I'm not money laundering lol
But what would money laundering actually look like?? I mean how could they tell
I've never really understood the money laundering thing

If you suddenly had £100,000 and no way of accounting for it, they would presume illegal activity.
If it's a gift, the person giving it to you declares it's a gift (and accounts for it).
If you've built it up, they can see it building up.

Well for example, if you had regular income from an employer, which matches your payslips, that's legit.

If you suddenly had £100k land in your bank account, they would ask questions.

Nobody's saying you are OP, but they have to check it for everybody otherwise they'd miss the ones who are!

They look for things like unexplained large sums entering accounts, moving money around between lots of accounts without explanation, lack of logical source of the funds (such as wages/inheritance etc), large sums of cash being deposited into accounts... all sorts! Conveyancing firms are a huge target for money laundering so they have to take it seriously.

It'd show on bank statements as large deposits of cash or even smaller deposits from multiple accounts, then probably outgoing transfers pr loans when then come back in and get repaid.

they want to see that the money accumulating is coming from your employment and not elsewhere

I feel so overwhelmed

Don't be!

What's making you feel that way? All you need to do is give them the bank statements requested.

have you acquired your savings in a dodgy way? why are you bothered?

No
I'm overwhelmed with it all
I don't think that's unusual. I'm doing it all by myself and it's hard

I can understand your feelings. The whole process is complex and confusing. I've lost count of the all the different forms etc I've read and signed over the last few months(I don't remember it being that complicated last time!) And we still don't own it!

Thank you
I didn't think it would be this overwhelming

Or you could be a clever money launderer and just put a small amount of money into an account every month. 🙂

Also tax evasion. I guess that's a kind of money laundering too.
Most of the money for my purchase is from the proceeds of the sale if my house, and the rest from a flat I sold last year. I had to provide three months bank statements and the completion statement from the flat's sale. The estate agent requested these as well as my lawyer.
I've used the same lawyer for at least six different house transactions in the last five years, but if it's been more than three months since I last employed her, I have to present the same passport and proof of address each time. It's silly but it's the rules.