May 2026
AMD’s Claudia Plessier explains the importance of Source of Funds and Wealth in conveyancing transactions.
Why do we request information on your source of funds and wealth?
Property transactions are attractive to those wishing to carry out criminal activity. This due to the significant sum of money which changes hands. As a result of these risks, the Solicitors Regulation Authority identified conveyancing as one of the highest risk legal service. Therefore, solicitors are required to act with caution when assessing source of funds and wealth. In order to prevent criminal activity, such as money laundering. This often means that we are required to request information, and ask questions which may appear to be ‘intrusive’ to fulfil our professional obligations. However, this in turn helps safeguard a buyer’s interest in a property, as if money that is associated with criminal activity has been used to purchase a property, the property may be seized by the authorities.
What is the difference between source of funds and source of wealth?
Source of funds refers to the money which is being used to fund a transaction. Unfortunately, it is not sufficient to only provide a bank statement which shows the funds are held in your account. Instead, we need to understand and evidence how the funds in your account have accrued. For example, if your money has accrued by saving your income, we will require evidence of payslips and bank statements to show the amount you earn each month, and the amount you are saving each month. Thereby, making it easier to ascertain whether the transaction at hand is consistent with your lifestyle.
We also need to ensure that the source of funds evidence provided is consistent with your source of wealth. Source of wealth refers to the origin of an individual’s entire assets. For example, an individual may have accumulated their wealth from investments, employment income and inheritance. This helps us to build the picture on how you have legitimately accumulated your funds.
Although we appreciate that you may have already been required to provide information to your mortgage broker, or estate agent, we are reviewing the information from a different perspective, and may require more in depth information to satisfy our requirements. The earlier on you are able to provide information to your solicitor to satisfy these requirements, will aid for smoother transactions, and prevent delays. Therefore, it is important to work with your solicitor to provide the information they are requesting.
What can a buyer do to prepare for source of funds and wealth checks?
It is really helpful for buyers to provide clear explanations of where the funds are currently held (along with documentary evidence such as bank statements), and documents showing how these funds have accrued (such as a copy of a completion statement for the sale of a previous property). The clearer the explanation provided, the swifter these source of funds checks will be completed.
Please note that your solicitor will likely require full bank statements rather than screenshots. Therefore, if these need to be requested with the bank, it’s important to do this as early on as possible.
