Buying A House With Hard Cash

[pumpjack]

hello all, i have hard cash total over 30k left to me by my late mum few years back. i also have money in a foreign bank account ( eire ) when i was working there around 6 years ago. i also have a bit of money in uk bank but not too much. i was wondering if i ever wanted to buy my house would i be able to use this cash, obviously ive had it kept well away in a safe box since 2006...now some may find that odd but thats my business i did have my own personal reasons for keeping it in my home, it was mums money and still to this day i want to hold onto it but on other hand i may need to buy a house soon for future security.

what is law on this and has anyone ever tried buy house with hard cash. im thinking why not just take it into bank and deposit it but last time i was asked where i got 3000 pounds by the clerk, thought that was a bit rude to be fair

[murraymints]

think you'll be asked questions because of new money laundering rules !

[murraymints]

https://www.icaew.com/library/subject-gateways/law/money-laundering/uk-legislation-and-regulations

[Islay]

You will be asked questions because of money laundering and especially as you will be moving money from a foreign source.
My suggestion is you speak to the bank and HMRC and ask what you need to do to bring the money into the country legally.

[Sqad]

£3,000 queried by the clerk? That is not a large sum and I agree, I think that it is also rude.

If you have paid tax on your deposits and declared the interest i think that the seller would be delighted to receive cash and you may even be able to knock down the selling price.

[murraymints]

if you have a copy of a will showing this is inherited wealth then that will help...

[woofgang]

Same problem buying a house as paying it into a bank, you will probabaly need to prove who you are and how you got the money. https://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/questions-of-cash-will-money-laundering-rules-mean-banks-stop-us-paying-15000-into-our-accounts-a6952881.html

[ToraToraTora]

are the notes still valid? they have all been changed since then.

[Islay]

You may think its rude but they are trying to avoid money laundering and the fines imposed if they are found out to have aided it.

[KARL]

I take your story entirely at face value. Sadly, the fact that you have kept hard cash outside circulation for this length of time may mean that in the UK it is difficult to put it into circulation. As murraymints alludes to, the banks have been co-opted into the police and must be/create a barrier to the use of anything but quite small amounts of cash.

To give you an example of the absurd lengths the obstruction goes to, when we (in a single transfer from my wife's account) gave our son £2000 to help him with a house purchase, a condition for proceeding with the purchase was placed whereby he had to prove where/how the money had reached him. In addition to providing a written statement of gifting, my wife had to go to a notary with our son's birth certificate to obtain acceptable written proof that she is his mother. The absurdity is that, while there is this sort of nitpicking intrusion into family affairs, annually literally billions of Pounds are being processed/laundered tax free through the London financial system and this is widely known and openly discussed. This is in fact effectively licensed by the UK government through the sale of "non-dom" status (I think I saw somewhere it costs about £35,000 - peanuts). The point is that such large sums keep the system afloat so it suits the UK to be so two-faced. The financial system is always quoted as being what keeps the UK afloat - the EU complains about the laundering and wants it to stop, is that maybe why Brexit suits the government ? That is another quite separate discussion.

My recommendation is that you choose a good lawyer and go and explain all of your story with the aim that he guides/helps you all the way through to using the cash. Then when the time comes it seems likely a lot of the cash you have will be in the form of outdated banknotes, a separate problem in itself.

[bobc1941]

F.A.O. KARL You are allowed to give your children £1.500
per year per parent.ie £3,000

[horselady]

Bank clerks have always been a bit inquisitive, long before all the money laundering. When my mother died back in the 1980's and I banked my share of the money from her will, the clerk said "oh won the football pools have we" her face when I said that actually my mum had died was a picture.

[woofgang]

horselady, I had a similar problem when my husband died and I was paying in various largeish cheques. I know the people on the counter, know that their computer program requires them to offer and there aren't many so once I had said to one of them who offered an investment advice that they were life insurance payments the rest were very discrete and sympathetic....however when the new and bumptious manager accosted me in the middle of the bank, I publicly told him in clear language exactly where the money was from and said that if I was asked again, I would remove my custom from the bank and tell his head office why.

[aelmpvw]

i've paid several large cheques from deceased relatives into the bank without a single query

[jennyjoan]

I know a gentleman who doesn't like banks and has kept his money in the house. Somebody just said there that banknotes can be outdated. I need to tell him this. But how old can the banknotes be.

[Gizmonster]

//// i've paid several large cheques from deceased relatives into the bank without a single query ////

That's not the issue here - the OP is talking about cash. If you pay a cheque into an account, it will have a trail, insofar as it can be traced back to its source. If you pay cash into an account, it's viewed with suspicion, 'cos it may be the proceeds of crime, hence the money laundering rules, etc.

[aelmpvw]

i realise that giz, my post was a reply to those talking about depositing cheques ...

[Gizmonster]

//// i realise that giz, my post was a reply to those talking about depositing cheques ... ////

Ahh .... fair enough then :)

[bednobs]

£50 notes havent gone out of circulation have they? not that ive ever even seen one!
whe you say it was her money, do you mean it was actually her notes that came to you? was it done via will, or did you just take them from her house?

[bednobs]

ps my reply just goes to show that abers are as nosey as bank clerks!

[Mamyalynne]

£50 Series E
Date first issued: 20 April 1994
Date ceased to be legal tender: 30 April 2014

There are rumours £50 notes are to be retied but it may just be rumour.