Charged for a gift letter

[ma7986]

Hello all,

 

apologies if we are not posting in the right section.

 

We are a couple who decided to buy our first house.

 

We found a property where we made an offer that has been accepted so that we started all the paperwork both with broker and solicitors.

 

A part of the deposit comes by a gift from family and as normal the broker asked us for a gift letter saying that that money is a gift and that there is not any financial interest in the property. The letter has been made, signed by the member of the family who transferred us the money and gave to the broker who will forward that to the lender.

 

The problem is that now the solicitors contacted us saying that they want a gift letter too and that to prepare the extra documentation will charge us around 100£. We told them that we have already the letter that has been approved by the broker and that will be sent to the lender by him but they don’t want listen reasons. They said that they have to make also the interest of the lender.

 

This sounds very weird to us as we thought that if we pay them, they should make our interests and not the ones of the lender.

 

Anyone experienced the same thing/issue? This request of an additional gift letter is really necessary and legally required?

 

Thank you very much in advance.

[steampowered]

I would ask them what was wrong with the first letter. I can see why you would want one, but I'm not sure why you would need two.

[ericsbrother]

Tell the solicitor you are taking your business elsewhere. For conveyancing many companies offer a fixed charge service.

however, you may have a problem with your mortgage as many mortgage companies are very wary of deposits being paid by relatives as gifts as this raises possible problems should they go bankrupt or into care in the next 7 years. Check with the broker that this is covered by the letter