What do you consider "cash"?

[maby]

I think a mortgage debt that is only being used to fund the house purchase is a special case - it's secured on the property and you would have to be paying for accomodation anyway, so why not borrow a sum that can be paid off with the money you would be paying in rent.

 

[webcraft]

The trouble there is that money laundering laws now prevent this for anything over about £4k otherwise the recipient of the cash has a hard time putting it into the bank.

I think you will find that banks have no difficulty accepting it but they will report it to the relevant authorities if it is over a certain amount, which varies from bank to bank. If the money is from an obvious source - such as a house sale in our case - then there won't be a problem.


- W

 

[lustyd]

I think you will find that banks have no difficulty accepting it but they will report it to the relevant authorities if it is over a certain amount, which varies from bank to bank. If the money is from an obvious source - such as a house sale in our case - then there won't be a problem.


- W

I'm not sure it's that easy. The whole point is that the money has to be traceable, so you'd have to give them the details of the person who gave you the money too. If that person didn't get the money from a bank then there would probably be an investigation since large sums of money in cash generally have links to crime, even if that crime is not paying taxes (builders etc taking cash)

ETA: if it is that easy, and you clearly have experience I don't, then you've highlighted another pointless law

 

[webcraft]

I'm not sure it's that easy. The whole point is that the money has to be traceable, so you'd have to give them the details of the person who gave you the money too. If that person didn't get the money from a bank then there would probably be an investigation since large sums of money in cash generally have links to crime, even if that crime is not paying taxes (builders etc taking cash)

ETA: if it is that easy, and you clearly have experience I don't, then you've highlighted another pointless law

It wasn't that big a sum, though more than the 4K someone mentioned. We withdrew £11,000 (aka 'all the money') from our current account and handed it over with no repercussions. How the recipient disposed of it or accounted for it to his bank was his problem, not ours.

I suspect it is like so many of the H&S 'rules' reported on here - actually not half as difficult in practice as is reported.

- W

 

[prv]

I suspect it is like so many of the H&S 'rules' reported on here - actually not half as difficult in practice as is reported.

Perhaps not dissimilar, in that the legislation requires something relatively simple but individual companies (or people they appoint who can't see beyond their own little compliance job) create unnecessary restrictions based on it.

Unfortunately, this means it *is* difficult in practice, where in theory it shouldn't be.

Pete

 

[DownWest]

Bit like some others here; Cash is being able to buy with liquid assets. Folding for small stuff, bank draft or cheque for bigger. Paid for a car €2600 folding, house with bank transfer. As a vendor, it would be instant money, regardless of the source.

I did get a call from the bank when I transfered £ 10,000 from an off-shore source. But they accepted my verbal statement that it was from the sale of a previous house. £10k used to be the reporting limit, seems it is lower in UK.

 

[duncan]

money unsecured on the purchase goods

 

[maxi77]

Who by?

In 25 years of selling houses, nobody I know in the business has ever described someone with a house to sell as a cash buyer. It's a fairly illiquid asset, particularly when most people have an inflated perception of their homes' true value, and particularly if a quick sale is required.

In the current market, if someone makes an offer but has a house sell, we suggest getting their house at least under offer, before we suggest a seller considers getting serious with them. This applies whether they are selling with us, or not.

It was the buyers estate agent, but in the frozen north we do house sales a little different. For a start my solicitor would not have made the formal offer if he had any doubt I would not be in a position to pay on time as a failure would have had an impact on his professional reputation which actually meant something to him. And yes I was able to provide the cleared funds on time though I did have a closed bridging loan for a couple of weeks. The way it is done up here allows reaching the equivalent of exchange conracts much earlier in the process.

I have bought and sold one house in England and I hope never to go through that experience ever again. No one I dealt with was wholly honest with me, and when I was selling my estate agent was at very best immoral until I found him out.

 

[Richard10002]

It was the buyers estate agent, but in the frozen north we do house sales a little different. For a start my solicitor would not have made the formal offer if he had any doubt I would not be in a position to pay on time as a failure would have had an impact on his professional reputation which actually meant something to him. And yes I was able to provide the cleared funds on time though I did have a closed bridging loan for a couple of weeks. The way it is done up here allows reaching the equivalent of exchange conracts much earlier in the process.

I have bought and sold one house in England and I hope never to go through that experience ever again. No one I dealt with was wholly honest with me, and when I was selling my estate agent was at very best immoral until I found him out.

Aha! The Scottish system. Much better than the way it is done here. There is too much time for shenanigans by anyone down here.

I was once known to say that, "if everybody liked me, I wasn't doing my job right"

It isn't surprising that some people take advantage of the situation, mostly due to the uncertainty, and lack of commitment, until such a late stage. Immorality isnt the exclusive right of the agents..... Buyers and sellers are often out to screw what they can out of the transaction and, as piggy in the middle, the agent usually gets the blame - so we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't, and we're damned when we shouldn't be damned.

Anyway - if your house is 99% certain to be turned into cash in time, or you have funds to bridge, then you are more or less as good as a cash buyer.

In a very buoyant Market, someone with a house to sell is also close to being as good as a cash buyer.

 

[Tranona]

There are parallels between the Scottish property system and the used boat buying system operated by brokers. Much derided by some, particularly on the MOBO forum, it does have the same advantage of cutting out all that messing about that some of us have experienced when buying and selling houses in England.

Getting a commitment through signing a contract at the time of the offer, subject of course to reasonable get out clauses if searches and survey reveal all is not as described, does concentrate the mind and stop speculative offers on the one hand and unscrupulous vendors on the other.

A "genuine" buyer then only becomes genuine when he has made his mind up to buy the boat and commits himself through a deposit rather than considering himself genuine just because he has the money and fancies the boat, but is not sure.

 

[Talulah]

I'm not sure it's that easy. The whole point is that the money has to be traceable, so you'd have to give them the details of the person who gave you the money too. If that person didn't get the money from a bank then there would probably be an investigation since large sums of money in cash generally have links to crime, even if that crime is not paying taxes (builders etc taking cash)

They fill out a form. This is sent to a place not too far from the MI5 building on the South side. The data is entered. Most Police Forces subscribe to the data mining that the Database offers. Nothing much more than that. The information is only used as part of a bigger investigation when investigating Mr Big. The completion of the form will not in itself trigger of an investigation.

 

[maxi77]

Aha! The Scottish system. Much better than the way it is done here. There is too much time for shenanigans by anyone down here.

I was once known to say that, "if everybody liked me, I wasn't doing my job right"

It isn't surprising that some people take advantage of the situation, mostly due to the uncertainty, and lack of commitment, until such a late stage. Immorality isnt the exclusive right of the agents..... Buyers and sellers are often out to screw what they can out of the transaction and, as piggy in the middle, the agent usually gets the blame - so we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't, and we're damned when we shouldn't be damned.

Anyway - if your house is 99% certain to be turned into cash in time, or you have funds to bridge, then you are more or less as good as a cash buyer.

In a very buoyant Market, someone with a house to sell is also close to being as good as a cash buyer.

Oh I agree every one in England is 'at it' when it comes to selling houses, but in my particular case the estate agent had a conflict of interest which the senior partner was made to address and deal with but it delayed our sale by some 8 weeks as we ran up to the 1988 price crash, the cleared funds just got into my account in late July.

The Scots system interestingly is based on almost identical contract law which means the English could achieve the same results if they were more willing to deal fairly. Mind you the complications of modern days has meant that missives take longer to conclude now than they did when I bought my first house.

 

[KellysEye]

I view cash as two things. Notes and coins for small amounts and Internet bank tranfer for boat and house. Technically it is not cash just an electronic debit and credit but the recipient could draw out the notes and coins.

 

[Slow_boat]

No mention of selling some stuff that is already paid for to purchase other stuff. That's how I got my boats, by selling bikes, landrover and for the present boat, by downsizing house. I drive a £500 banger and we don't do holidays except on the boat. It's all a question of priorities. You can't have everything (well, maybe some can) If swmbo has her way we'll end up with a mortgage free bedsit and a debt free Halberg Rassey!


BTW, what is this term 'savings' an 'having money in your account' of which you speak?