Will estate agents pass information about my finances to the sellers?

[Vinsomer]

I'm a FTB who has just had an offer accepted on a house. I'm just about to send over a whole pile of documents for the affordability/AML checks. After it all goes through I'll have a decent chunk of money in a few places, which the EA will be able to see, but for various reasons I absolutely can't afford to go any higher than my current offer.

I'm terrified of being gazumped and I'm worried that the EA will hint to the seller that I have some more room for movement, which could make them think I'm trying to rip them off and accept another offer!

Is there anything to stop estate agents passing on information about my finances to the sellers?

Thank you!

No! That would be totally unethical and illegal for them to share personal information like that

I was in a similar situation to you (money in different pots, and more than I needed for the purchase) and the same worries went through my mind. But presumably GDPR prevents the EA from sharing such info. And if they’d tried to get me into a bidding war I would have just walked away as earlier in my search I’d already lost out to people who could chuck thousands at it to secure the house; just no point getting involved.

Unfortunately with the English system there is always a chance of gazumping/sellers pulling out up to the point of exchange. It’s a risk you take.

What happens if you don't send the details of one of the accounts? Can you still show enough funds? Or can you temporarily move enough money into /out of accounts to allow one account not to be shown?
We only provided the headline balances, not the actual transactions to prove funds.

As far as I am aware, they (and the solicitors) are bound by law to check that your money is not coming from an illegal source of income (money laundering) and you are using legitimate funds. That information is confidential and should not be passed on to other parties.

It's been a while since I bought a property, but we just had to prove we had a mortgage offer, I think the mortgage company knew where the other funds were coming from. I don't remember having to give any specific information to the EA. Have things changed now?

No they won’t. They have accepted your offer anyway. If anyone tries to gazumped you or ask for more money, you walk away.

Thank you for the replies. I might be being ridiculous, I'm just really uncomfortable about the amount of information I'm being asked to share and thinking the worst!

@BuddingPeonies I did say that I would just transfer everything I needed to the one savings account but I was told that any significant transaction in the last three months would have to be accounted for and I'd have to show the original source of the funds.

@Twiglets1 I know it's not ethical, but I don't know how much value estate agents put on ethics when they're paid in commission! 😂

I will have to walk away in that situation but it would be so sad as I love the house (and a huge pain now I've paid solicitors fees, mortgage broker fees etc.).

Remember that the nightmare stories you read about are told because they are unusual. Most people involved in buying and selling are perfectly reasonable and want to behave well. Most likely it will all go fine and you’ll buy the house you love.