When Does a Solicitor Check Proof of Funds?

When you have an offer accepted on a property, your solicitor checks proof of funds soon after you instruct them, usually within the first week of the file being opened. This is not a box-ticking exercise your solicitor has invented to slow things down. It is a legal requirement under anti-money laundering law, and every solicitor and licensed conveyancer in England and Wales has to carry it out before they can start substantive work on your purchase. Understanding what is coming, and gathering the right documents before you are asked, is the single biggest thing you can do to keep your conveyancing fees and timeline on track.

A proof of funds check verifies two separate things. The first is that you actually have the money to buy the property, which your solicitor confirms through recent bank statements, mortgage offer letters, and savings account balances. The second, and the part that catches most buyers off guard, is proof of where that money came from. This is your source of funds: the specific transaction or event that put the cash in your account, such as a salary deposit, an inheritance payment, or the proceeds from selling a previous home.

Solicitors sometimes need to go a step further and ask about your source of wealth, which is different again. Source of wealth covers how you built up your overall financial position over time, rather than the origin of one specific sum. For most buyers using savings or a straightforward mortgage, source of funds evidence is all that is needed. Source of wealth questions tend to arise for larger cash purchases, business owners, or buyers receiving unusually large sums relative to their income. If you are about to instruct a solicitor, it is worth asking early which level of detail your case is likely to require.

Proof of funds checks sit at a specific point in the conveyancing process: after your offer has been accepted, once you have formally instructed a solicitor, and before any substantive legal work begins on your file. Your solicitor cannot start ordering searches, reviewing the contract pack, or corresponding with the other side's solicitor until they are satisfied about who you are and where your money has come from. In practice, most solicitors ask for your documents in the first client care pack they send out, often on the same day you sign your engagement letter.

The check is not always a one-off event. If your funding changes during the transaction, for example if a relative decides to add a gifted deposit partway through, if you move money between accounts, or if you sell an investment to top up your deposit, your solicitor has to revisit the check and ask for fresh evidence for the new source. This is one of the more common causes of delay when people ask how long conveyancing takes, because a change in funding part-way through can add several days while the new paperwork is verified. Telling your solicitor about any changes to your funding as soon as they happen, rather than waiting until completion is close, keeps this friction to a minimum.

Solicitors check proof of funds because the law tells them to, not because they suspect you personally of anything. The requirement comes from the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as amended, which apply to every regulated law firm and licensed conveyancer handling a property transaction in the UK. Property purchases are a well known route for laundering illegally obtained money, so anyone acting as an obliged entity under the regulations, including your conveyancer, has to verify the source of client funds before acting.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority oversees compliance with these rules for solicitors, and equivalent bodies do the same for licensed conveyancers. Firms that fail to carry out adequate checks risk substantial fines, formal warnings, and in serious or repeated cases can lose their ability to practise altogether. That regulatory pressure is why your solicitor will not budge on this requirement, however routine your purchase looks to you. It also explains why the checks tend to be thorough rather than a quick glance at a bank statement: the solicitor, not just you, carries legal liability if something is missed.

None of this means you are under suspicion. The overwhelming majority of proof of funds checks are resolved within days because the money came from an obvious, easily evidenced source such as wages, savings, or a house sale. Treat the request as a standard administrative step rather than a personal question mark over your finances.

The exact documents your solicitor asks for depend on where your deposit and purchase funds are coming from. Preparing the right evidence for your specific fund source before you are asked can save several days off your timeline. Below is what solicitors typically require for each common source, along with the mistakes that most often cause delays.

Personal savings

If your deposit has built up in a current or savings account over time, your solicitor will usually ask for three to six months of bank statements showing the balance accumulating. They are looking for a steady, explainable pattern of deposits, such as regular salary payments, rather than a single large sum appearing out of nowhere. A common mistake is submitting statements with large unexplained cash deposits or transfers from unnamed third parties, which almost always triggers follow-up questions.

Property sale proceeds

If you are funding your purchase from selling your current home, your solicitor needs the completion statement from that sale, showing the net proceeds you received, along with a bank statement confirming the money landing in your account. Because your own conveyancer can often see both sides of a linked transaction, this is usually one of the most straightforward sources to evidence.

Inheritance

Money from an inheritance needs the grant of probate or letters of administration, a letter from the deceased's solicitor or executor confirming the distribution, and a bank statement showing the funds arriving in your account. Delays here are common when the estate is still being administered and the paperwork is not yet finalised, so it is worth flagging an inheritance-funded purchase to your solicitor as early as possible.

Gifted deposit

A gifted deposit from a family member requires a signed gift letter confirming the money is a genuine gift with no expectation of repayment, proof of the donor's identity, and the donor's own bank statements showing they had the funds available. Lenders as well as solicitors scrutinise gifted deposits closely, so incomplete or informal gift letters are one of the most frequent causes of last-minute delay.

Investments

If you are liquidating shares, an ISA, or another investment to fund your purchase, you will need portfolio or account statements showing the holding, plus confirmation of the redemption or sale and the proceeds landing in your bank account. Where an investment has grown substantially, be ready to explain the original source of the money that was invested, not just the recent sale.

Overseas funds

Money arriving from abroad faces extra scrutiny. Expect to provide evidence of the original source in the home country, proof of currency conversion, and confirmation of the transfer route. Funds from jurisdictions the UK considers higher risk for money laundering can trigger enhanced due diligence, which may include translated and certified documents and can add one to two weeks to the process. Starting this evidence gathering the moment you have an offer accepted, rather than waiting to be asked, is the best way to avoid it becoming a bottleneck.

If you cannot provide satisfactory proof of funds, your solicitor simply cannot move forward with the substantive parts of your purchase. They will not order searches, submit contract enquiries, or exchange contracts until they are satisfied about the source of your money, because doing so would put them in breach of their own regulatory obligations. In practical terms, this means your file effectively pauses at the point the check should have been completed, while everything else waits in the queue behind it.

The most common outcome is delay rather than a collapsed purchase. Buyers who are slow to send documents, or whose paperwork is incomplete, typically lose anywhere from a few days to a few weeks while the gaps are filled in. In more serious cases, where a solicitor cannot get comfortable with the explanation for a fund source, or where a client is unwilling or unable to provide evidence, the firm can decline to act for you altogether. This is rare, but it does happen, most often with unexplained cash sums or funds from jurisdictions with weak money laundering controls.

The practical fix is preparation. Before you formally instruct a solicitor, ask what documents they will need for your specific funding situation and start gathering them immediately, particularly bank statements, which can take a few days to request from your bank if you need printed or stamped copies. Buyers who arrive with a complete pack on day one routinely clear their check within 24 to 48 hours, while those who scramble to find paperwork after being asked can lose a week or more.

Many cash buyers assume that paying without a mortgage means less scrutiny, since there is no lender involved to slow things down. In reality, the opposite is usually true. A mortgage lender carries out its own independent affordability and source of funds checks before releasing money, which gives your solicitor a second set of eyes confirming everything is in order. Cash buyers do not have that second layer of verification, so solicitors often apply more rigorous checks precisely because they are the only party confirming where the money has come from.

If you are buying with cash, be ready to evidence the entire purchase price, not just a deposit, which usually means a larger set of bank statements, investment records, or sale proceeds documentation covering the full amount. Cash buyers moving quickly, such as those buying at auction or in a competitive chain-free sale, sometimes find this the one part of the transaction they cannot rush, so it pays to have your documents ready before you start viewing properties rather than after your offer is accepted.

When your documents are complete and straightforward, most solicitors clear a proof of funds check within one to five working days of receiving everything they need. Simple cases, such as a salary-funded deposit backed by three months of clean bank statements, are often signed off within 24 to 48 hours. More complex sources take longer: gifted deposits typically add a few days while gift letters and donor paperwork are finalised, and overseas funds or funds from multiple sources can extend the check to two or three weeks in some cases.

The best way to speed things up is to send everything in one go rather than in stages, in the format your solicitor asks for, usually PDF statements showing your name, account number, and full transaction history rather than screenshots or cropped images. If you know your funding is going to be complex, for example combining savings, a gift, and sale proceeds, tell your solicitor before you formally instruct them so they can flag exactly what they will need from each source. Money Saving Advisors works with SRA-regulated conveyancing solicitors experienced in handling gifted deposits, overseas funds, and other less straightforward sources, so if you are still looking to find a conveyancer, choosing one with this experience can help avoid delays later.