Declined over where the deposit came from.

Who is giving you the money decides most of this

Parents. Entirely routine. Parental help with a deposit is so common that no lender finds it remarkable. Expect a short letter and evidence of where the funds came from.

Grandparents, and usually siblings. Ordinarily fine, with the same evidence. A smaller field of lenders than parents, but not a problem.

A friend. This is where a large part of the market stops, and it is the one that catches people out. Most lenders restrict gifts to close family, so a genuinely generous friend can end an application at a bank that would have said yes to the identical sum from a parent.

An employer, or a company you are a director of. Different rules again, and often treated as something other than a gift.

Why lenders care at all

Two reasons, and neither is about doubting you. The first is legal: lenders have anti-money-laundering obligations and must establish where deposit funds came from. A family relationship is straightforward to evidence; a friendship is not, which is why policies draw the line where they do.

The second is that a gift must genuinely be a gift. If the money is really a loan, the lender is being asked to lend against a deposit that somebody else can demand back, and the affordability assessment they have done is wrong. That is why the letter always asks the same two things.

A gift, not a loan — and the difference is not wording

The standard gifted deposit letter confirms that the money is a gift, that it is not repayable, and that the person giving it retains no interest in the property. If any of that is not true, the answer is not to sign it anyway. It is to tell me, so the case goes to a lender who can accommodate the actual arrangement — some will consider a loan from family, and some will consider the giver going on the deeds.

Saying so plainly: I will not help anybody describe a loan as a gift. It is the one thing in this job that turns a difficult application into a false declaration, and it is the client who carries that.

What to have ready

• A signed letter from whoever is gifting: amount, confirmation it is a gift, no repayment, no stake in the property.
• Evidence of where their money came from — savings built over time, a house sale, an inheritance. Recently arrived funds need a clearer explanation than long-held ones.
• Identification for the person gifting. This surprises people and is entirely normal.
• If the money is coming from abroad, say so at the outset. It is workable and it narrows the choice of lender, so it should shape where the case goes from the start.

Whenever the money arrives, it has to be declared as a gift and evidenced the same way. Having the gift letter and the evidence of where it came from ready early is what saves time — not moving the money early.