Proving where a family gift came from so it clears the checks

The four documents the bank can ask for

A signed gift letter from the sender

It is one page, in the sender's own hand or typed and signed. It says who is sending, who is receiving, how much, in which currency, on what date, why, and that the money is a gift and not a loan. The fields to put in it are below.

A copy of the sender's ID

Use a passport, a driving licence or a national ID card. The name on it should match the name on the gift letter and on the account the money left from.

Proof of the sender's address

Send a bank statement or a utility bill from the last three months, showing the sender's name and home address.

A bank statement showing the money leaving

An app can want the sender's full statement. It shows their name, the account, and the debit for the amount on the letter, on the day the transfer went. It proves the money on the letter really left the sender's account. Send it with the letter.

The gift letter, field by field

What matters is what is in the letter. Eight fields:

1. Full name and home address of the person sending the money.
2. Their relationship to you (father, mother, uncle, aunt,
   grandparent, sibling).
3. Your full name and address.
4. The exact amount and currency, and the date of the transfer.
   For example: "GBP 30,000, sent on 12 July 2026."
5. What the money is for (wedding, school fees, house deposit,
   family support, medical costs).
6. This wording, in these words: "This is an unconditional gift.
   No repayment is expected. I have no claim on any asset the
   recipient may buy with this money."
7. Where the money came from. For example: "This money is
   my savings from thirty years of salary at [employer]", or
   "the sale of my house in [city] in [year]", or "an inheritance
   from my late father."
8. The sender's signature and the date they signed.

Send that letter, the ID, the address proof, and the bank statement together when the bank first asks. Sending them one at a time can slow the check down.

What changes when the money is going through an app

Wise, Revolut and TransferGo run their own version of the same check. Wise asks for a signed letter and a document showing the giver's source of income, such as a payslip or a property sale agreement. If the giver is retired, Wise says their pension statement or a bank statement showing their income will do. Field 7 of the letter says where the money came from, but it does not replace this document.

Upload your files to Wise as PDF, JPEG or PNG, up to 10MB each. Wise cannot take a file with a password on it.

An app may want to know how you and the sender are related. For a gift, Revolut's UK help page asks for proof of the transfer from the giver, the giver's full name and how you are related. Field 2 of the letter gives the relationship. Wise's list of documents does not name proof of a family link, but Wise says the list is only examples and it can ask for others.

So have a paper ready. If you know one of these transfers is coming, ask your family to scan a document that names both of you, such as a birth certificate or a marriage certificate. Get it before the transfer, not after.

On 5 November 2026, Wise's own help page put the usual range at 2 to 10 working days, and occasionally longer. Plan for the longer end of this range when the payment sits on a deadline.

The house-deposit case is different

The solicitor is not asking for the four documents so the bank will release the money to you. The solicitor is building a file that has to satisfy money laundering rules. A solicitor can ask for the same four items, plus a notarised copy of the sender's ID (a notary public stamps it, not just a photocopy), and a certified English translation of any document not in English. A solicitor can also ask for a fuller account of where the money came from, with dates and, where possible, supporting paperwork (a payslip summary, a property sale contract, an inheritance grant of probate).

Ask your mortgage lender about the gift before the money moves, because lenders have their own rules. On 5 November 2026, Nationwide had its own form for a gift of £10,000 or more. It wanted 6 months of statements for money from outside the European Economic Area, such as from Nigeria or India. The Mortgage Works, which lends on homes to rent out, did not accept a gift from someone living outside the UK, or money from outside the UK. If your lender has its own form, use it for the mortgage.

Get this pack to the solicitor well before the completion date. Solicitors typically want it in hand weeks, not days, ahead. Do not send the money first and then chase the paperwork. If the solicitor's file is not complete when the money arrives, the solicitor cannot release the funds to the seller, and a completion date can be lost while the file catches up.

The two-hop route and a house deposit

In the two-hop route, the sender in Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana, India, or the Philippines sends the money first to a relative already in the UK, and that UK relative then sends it on to you.

For a house deposit going to a solicitor, the two-hop route is the wrong answer. The solicitor's file has to trace the money in one clean line from the sender to the deposit. An extra hop through a sibling's or a cousin's account creates a gap the solicitor has to explain. For a house deposit, route the money in one direct transfer and put your work into the pack of documents that goes with it.

A note on tax

Gifts from a living relative are not income tax for you. There is no UK tax to pay when the money arrives. Inheritance tax can apply if the sender is UK-resident for tax and dies within seven years of the gift, and there is a small annual gift allowance of £3,000 per giver per tax year. If the sender lives abroad, inheritance tax can still apply to UK assets, such as a UK bank account, and to overseas assets for up to 10 tax years after a long-term UK resident leaves. This is not tax advice; if the amount is large and you are not sure, ask an accountant before the transfer.

When the money is still paused

If the check is still running and the bank or the app is asking for more documents, send them a written summary: the items you have already supplied, dated, with attachment names. Ask what specific document is still outstanding.

The rest of the pieces on money paused between two systems, such as a savings pot that has to follow you to the UK, sit under between systems.

Corrections

2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said the two-hop route works for a wedding, a school fee, a funeral, a family emergency or ordinary support, and that the apps run their check before your UK bank sees the money. We found no source for the first, or for the second at Revolut, so both are gone.
2026-11-05: An earlier version of this page said the gift-letter fields clear the check, gave an order the bank reads the documents in, and said the letter must carry eight fields and no more. It also said a passport is best and other ID is usually fine, said what the bank is checking on the ID and the address proof, and said a specific answer forces a specific reply. No source shows these, and Wise wants a document as well as the letter, so they are gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the bank needs four documents, and that they are the same at every app and bank. We found no bank that publishes that list, and Wise also asks for a document showing the giver's source of income, so the page now says this and says the bank can ask for the four documents.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said one line on where the money came from is enough, that the bank recognises five kinds of source, that one page of the bank statement will do, and that the letter can be a Word document sent in one email. Wise wants a document, can want the full statement, and takes PDF, JPEG or PNG uploads, so the page no longer says these.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said none of the inheritance tax rules apply if the sender is not UK-resident for tax and does not live here. That was wrong: UK assets can still be taxed, and long-term UK residence can last up to 10 tax years after someone leaves, so the page now says this.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Wise's 2 to 10 working days start after documents are received, that Revolut clears checks in a few days to two weeks, that the apps move faster once the pack is in, and that a bank can take a week or more. Wise's page does not say the first and we could not source the rest, so they are gone, and the Revolut range in the 2026-08-01 note below no longer applies.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the two-hop route is the common advice in every family group chat, that it often clears faster than a direct transfer, that a UK bank can see the second hop end-to-end and finds it easier to release, and that each gap adds days to a solicitor's file. No source shows these, and they are gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a solicitor's file has to satisfy the Law Society's rules on gifted deposits, that it needs a notarised copy of the sender's ID and a paragraph on where the money came from, and that it often needs a translation. We found no such Law Society rules, so the page now says money laundering rules and says a solicitor can ask for these items.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page had a section for people sending a gift from the UK. It said the person receiving will be asked for the four documents, and it recommended Currencies Direct, including for a child in the UK. No source shows the first, a transfer in pounds inside the UK needs no currency broker, and with the lines above gone the page gave no reason for the recommendation, so the section is gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said a transfer app is a poor fit for a large gift because Wise's and Revolut's per-transfer caps trip at this size, that your own bank's rate is 1 to 4 percent worse than the real rate, and that a broker is usually the right tool from £20,000. Wise's caps are far higher and we could not source the rest, so these lines are gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said most families leave out the sender's bank statement, that banks ask for it twice, that most families lack proof of being related, that this is the top reason a Wise or Revolut transfer stays paused, and that the apps often ask for that proof, such as an old passport naming next of kin. No source shows these, so the page no longer says them and now gives what Wise publishes.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said sending documents one at a time restarts the check and adds a week, that most transfers clear within a working week, and that a bank takes longer because a person reviews each case in a queue. No source shows these, and they are gone; the advice to send the documents together has not changed.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Currencies Direct has run personal transfers for around 30 years, that its rate on £50,000 or £100,000 is close to the real rate, and that its margin is a fraction of what a bank would take. No source shows these, and they are gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the rate quoted on a broker's phone call is the one that binds and the online rate is only an indication. We could not source this, and it is gone.
2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said brokers call you after you sign up, and that if you do not want the call, an app is the wrong tool. We can show the call only for Currencies Direct, and the line about the app was backwards, so both are gone.
2026-10-01: An earlier version of this page said Boki uses Currencies Direct for this shape of transaction. Boki has no personal usage relationship with the broker, and the wording implied one; the paragraph has been rewritten to say Boki recommends Currencies Direct, which is what was meant.
2026-08-01: An earlier version of this page said Wise and Revolut can release a paused transfer "within one to two working days of receiving the full documents". Wise's own help page ("How long will additional checks on my transfer take?") gives 2 to 10 working days as the standard range, and Revolut typically clears simple checks in a few days and transaction-heavy ones in one to two weeks. The paragraph has been rewritten so a reader planning around a wedding or completion date does not undershoot the wait. The earlier version also said the solicitor's pack should be delivered "six weeks before the completion date"; no primary Law Society or conveyancing source publishes that specific figure, so it has been softened to "well before the completion date; solicitors typically want it in hand weeks, not days, ahead".