Contact Details:

Please let us have full contact details at the outset of the transaction to include your postal address, mobile and/or landline numbers and your email address.  Please let us have your preferred method of contact.

If there are any potential issues of privacy with any of these, please let us know when giving us the details, as otherwise we will assume we can communicate confidential information on an unrestricted basis.

Client ID:

Money Laundering is the term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of crime by making them appear to have come from a legitimate source. By law, all firms of Solicitors in Scotland need to follow anti-money laundering rules that include so called ‘know your customer’ checks on all clients and (in some situations) any third parties providing funds.

We are specifically required to record each individual client’s full name, date of birth and residential address and verify this information according to strictly enforced regulations issued by the Law Society of Scotland.  In the case of organisations this applies to the people who are giving us instructions.

Usually the regulations will be satisfied by you providing us with a current passport and photo driving licence.  If you have these please bring them with you to our first meeting to enable us to take copies.

There is no need to be concerned if you do not have these however, as the regulations do allow for alternatives, which we will be happy to go over with you.

Source Of Funds

If you are providing us with money in connection with a transaction such as buying a property, the regulations require us to establish and note in the relative file where the funds will be coming from. This could be for example, a UK bank/building society account, an overseas transfer or money from a third party.

When you are arranging to transfer cleared funds to our client account, we will require proof that the funds were drawn on an account in your name.  If you are unable to provide us with a bank statement proving this, your bank or building society will easily be able to provide a letter detailing what is required to comply with the regulations.

We also have to establish how the funds have been obtained, for example whether they are investment income, savings, proceeds from the sale of another property or inherited etc. you will need to provide us with an explanation for us to note in the file.