UKC

Do I have a drug baron next door?

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 JJL 17 Jul 2016
Neighbours sold their house. Their kids are long gone and rattling around in a big house with a demanding garden had lost its appeal (also Mr's health was shonky so stairless living much closer to daughter and grandchildren was sensible)

They put the house on the market through a reputable (for estate agents) agent; a national chain.

Then there was a ring on the door. Chap had seen the for sale sign and, without going via agent, wanted to look round with his wife and kid.

At the end of the tour, hands were shaken on £50k over the asking price in return for immediate removal from market and fast completion.

Neighbours came to say goodbye... and apparently buyer insisted on paying cash (over £1m). The agents/solicitors had attempted to do the back checks, but all the documents were in Chinese.

We've met the new. Neighbours; seem very nice young couple (late 20s). They speak little English but gave their names as Bill and Sharon.

A tad odd.
6
 althesin 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

I'd like to reiterrate general UKC guidelines on neighbour issues, be nice, don't antagonise, sell the horse.
OP JJL 17 Jul 2016
In reply to althesin:

Can I join the triad?
2
 gethin_allen 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

I wouldn't be concerned about the English names, many Asian people take English names after realising just how bad we are at pronouncing their names and often the names they pick are out of step with current trends in names.
 jon 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

> gave their names as Bill and Sharon.

You'd think they'd avoid Ls and Rs. Very suspicious, I'd say.
1
 yodadave 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

from what i understand, chinese banking restricts savings in many ways and thus a lot of wealthy chinese buy property overseas as a way of having a stable investment should the chinese government get greedy.

listened to some radio show about it a few weeks back. No personal knowledge of the inner workings.
OP JJL 17 Jul 2016
In reply to yodadave:

Ok... but why the suitcase full of fifties?
1
 BnB 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

I had originally understood that "paid in cash" simply meant that they had not required a mortgage.

One good reason for the Chinese to pay in readies would be to obscure the transaction from their authorities which restrict the flows of capital out of China.
1
OP JJL 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:
Presumably the dislikers think there's nothing at all strange about someone buying a house with over 20,000 used £50 notes?
Post edited at 10:37
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 wintertree 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

Did they have an ancient map and a couple of pick axes?

Video instruction manual on investigating your neighbours - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_%27Burbs
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

That's a defence against money-laundering checks I'd love to see at court. "Well, it was too hard to check, because the paperwork they provided, which could have been anything, was in a foreign language."
1
 ScottTalbot 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

> Ok... but why the suitcase full of fifties?

Was there a suitcase full of 50's? Or have you just added that yourself? I doubt it very much, as your neighbours bank wouldn't allow them to deposit that much cash without a paper trail.
OP JJL 17 Jul 2016
In reply to ScottTalbot:

Yes - apparently caused previous neighbours all sorts of issues but we only got the potted version as they brought our spare keys back
1
In reply to off-duty:

It would not be the first case, if it was thrown out through a lack of interpreters for the prosecution
In reply to off-duty:
> That's a defence against money-laundering checks I'd love to see at court. "Well, it was too hard to check, because the paperwork they provided, which could have been anything, was in a foreign language."

It worked for HSBC. They even broke UN sanctions with Iran and reconfigured the counters in branches in Mexico so people could pass over larger bags of money. But maybe you need to be pals with the chancellor.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/11/hsbc-us-money-laundering-g...
Post edited at 11:31
 FactorXXX 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

Yes - apparently caused previous neighbours all sorts of issues but we only got the potted version as they brought our spare keys back

Apparently, £1million in £50 notes would weigh 24.2kg and have a volume of 35.27 litres.
If I was the recipient, I'd be very concerned about them being forged, which means that they'd have to be checked individually in a bank before any transfer could take place.
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Name Changed 34:

> It would not be the first case, if it was thrown out through a lack of interpreters for the prosecution

Yep. I think Crapita have the interpreter contract for the CPS/police.
Licence to print money, with marginal comeback when they cock-up.
I'd be interested to see how they deal with non-native speakers across Europe. I don't remember any suggestion of state funded provision of an interpreter when I was needed to provide a statement in France. (few years ago though )

In this case I would have said the onus is squarely on the estate agent to fulfil their obligations, it's not as if they aren't making enough money on a million quid sale with an extra 50k on top.
1
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

The very cynical side of me says - "Cannabis farm".
If you don't see the family and child regularly and and moving in appears to involve a lot of lights and black sheeting......
2
 Indy 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:
> apparently buyer insisted on paying cash (over £1m). The agents/solicitors had attempted to do the back checks, but all the documents were in Chinese.

Sorry can't be done.... no transaction can be done without money laundering checks etc. Solicitors would get struck off/sen to prison.
Post edited at 12:22
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Indy:

> Sorry can't be done.... no transaction can be done without money laundering checks etc. Solicitors would get struck off/sen to prison.

But who checks the checks carried out by the agent/solicitor ?
Presumably a box is simply ticked, and 5% of a million quid is trousered.
1
 FactorXXX 17 Jul 2016
In reply to off-duty:

But who checks the checks carried out by the agent/solicitor ?
Presumably a box is simply ticked, and 5% of a million quid is trousered.


Wouldn't that involve complicity from all parties though?
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to FactorXXX:

> But who checks the checks carried out by the agent/solicitor ?

> Presumably a box is simply ticked, and 5% of a million quid is trousered.

> Wouldn't that involve complicity from all parties though?

Complicity from the agent/solicitor I guess. Tick the box, file the incomprehensible paperwork on the basis "Well what we're we expected to do...?" and rely on the fact there are 1.2 million house sales a year to check, when they barely have staff to check transactions flagged as "suspicious".
1
 blackcat 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:
gave theyre names as bill and sharon,a tad odd ,not at all have you never heard of mr entwhistle (last of the summer wine),
Post edited at 13:21
 Timmd 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Name Changed 34:
> It would not be the first case, if it was thrown out through a lack of interpreters for the prosecution

You've reminded me there's been a decline in the number of interpreters available due to cuts and changes put in place by the coalition/Conservatives.
Post edited at 14:52
2
 Scarab9 17 Jul 2016
In reply to JJL:

I'm not to up with such things in china but in many foreign countries the manner in which property transcactions go through is pretty different, and with such a difficult government as china I wouldn't be too surprised if this seemed pretty logical to the buyers. 50k over the asking sounded dodgy until you said house worth 1mil...so now not.

I'd say wait and see and don't judge from cynisim or prejudice. They may be great neighbours.

 Fraser 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Timmd:
Do you have a source for the actual figures? It might make interesting reading.
Post edited at 15:35
 Fraser 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Scarab9:

> 50k over the asking sounded dodgy until you said house worth 1mil...so now not.

Yeah, 5% over the asking price sounds reasonable to me.

1
ceri 17 Jul 2016
In reply to gethin_allen:
> I wouldn't be concerned about the English names, many Asian people take English names after realising just how bad we are at pronouncing their names and often the names they pick are out of step with current trends in names.

My 2ry school class of 1992 had Wai-shan who changed her name to Nicole and Ming-leung who changed his to Vincent. Not sure which set of names was more unusual in a class with 3 Sarahs...
Post edited at 15:43
 Timmd 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Fraser:

> Do you have a source for the actual figures? It might make interesting reading.

I think I read it in Private Eye if that's any help?

I could probably find a source, but being unemployed and with distance learning to do, and jobs to apply for, it feels a bit like I've more urgent things to do. Hope you don't mind.
1
 Fraser 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Timmd:

Doesn't really help, no. It's unfortunate we can't readily verify the comment.
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Timmd:

> You've reminded me there's been a decline in the number of interpreters available due to cuts and changes put in place by the coalition/Conservatives.


The government / MOJ moved towards a single source of interpreters rather than the ad hoc individual agreements in various areas with various organisations.
I don't think there has been a particular decline - rather interpreters don't want to work for the money that is now on the table - it used to be a lot more lucrative.
I'm not sure who should be blamed for that.

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/capita-still-failing-to-hit-interprete...
In reply to Timmd:
+off duty

2004ish I found a house, offer cash full asking price, the Agent was way out of town , and others local, after a lot of pushing at the agent papers were sent to my solicitor for exchange, na lad this is not in proper order, What? well for a start the court the[ owner had bean put into care] had given authority to handle the money but not to sell the house. My solicitor was blanked and stalled, The agent upped the price 40% the bloke at the agent had disappeared. and the Lady now running the office insisted on having a copy of my passport, they all reedy a copy bank statement showing cleared funds
so I think ??? forge a cheque book and a pass port and i;m left looking very silly.
so yer, if not for my man being on the ball someone would have a bulging pocket me think's

can someone start a thread about the smoking ban that HMP have coming in this year and the fun its going to be?

this from a local rag and ]]off duty[[ may well be right about the small comeback given 46K is the max fine that could be given.





Date published: 24 January 2014

A SADDLEWORTH company paid to provide court interpreters has been hit with thousands of pounds in fines and penalties by judges and government officials over poor performance.

The Ministry of Justice withheld £46,139 of payments to Capita over the performance of Delph-based Capita Translation and Interpreting between May 2012 and November 2013 £ the maximum possible.

Judges filed 11 wasted cost orders against the company, totalling £7,229, to cover the bill to taxpayers caused by interpreters failing to turn up, the National Audit Office said.

The company was founded as Applied Language Solutions 10 years ago by local businessman Gavin Wheeldon, but bought by professional services firm Capita in December 2011 for £7.5 million.

In mid-2011 ALS won the contract to provide court translators across England from 2012, but staff shortages meant trials were disrupted.

The company has made progress since MPs accused it of causing ££total chaos££ in 2012 but it is still not meeting its target to fulfil 98 per cent of bookings, the NAO said.

and
http://www.slwoods.co.uk/?tag=crapita&paged=4
Post edited at 17:47
 Fraser 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Timmd:
Did you delete your other post? I did have a search but initially found nothing relevant. The closest I can now find is this. I can't post a link as it's a download, but if you search you'll find a reasonably useful document from the MoJ.

Search for "Statistics on the use of language Interpreter and Translation services in courts and tribunals"


Make of the Key Findings what you will.

Edit: The first point in the document states this:

"Number of completed services requests for language interpreter a Number of completed services requests for language interpreter and translation services

This section presents statistics on the number of completed service requests made
under the contract with Capita TI.

In 2014, there was a total of 160,600 completed requests for language Interpreter
and translation services - a decrease of 1,700 when compared with 2013.
The main driver for the decrease was due to fewer service requests from tribunal
courts £ specifically from Social Security and Child Support (SSCS).

The decrease in service requests at tribunals was consistent with a decrease in the number of tribunal cases. HM Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) recorded 344,237 receipts in 2014, which was 60% lower than the same period in 2013. This has been driven by fewer appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) being received by tribunals in 2014. The decrease in
appeals could be due to a number of reasons including the introduction of mandatory reconsideration across DWP benefits - where a DWP decision-maker looks again at individual cases before it goes to a tribunal.nd translation services

This section presents statistics on the number of completed service requests made
under the contract with Capita TI.

In 2014, there was a total of 160,600 completed requests for language Interpreter
and translation services - a decrease of 1,700 when compared with 2013.

The main driver for the decrease was due to fewer service requests from tribunal
courts £ specifically from Social Security and Child Support (SSCS).

The decrease in service requests at tribunals was consistent with a decrease in the number of tribunal cases. HM Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) recorded 344,237 receipts in 2014, which was 60% lower than the same period in 2013. This has been driven by fewer appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) being received by tribunals in 2014. The decrease in
appeals could be due to a number of reasons including the introduction of mandatory reconsideration across DWP benefits - where a DWP decision-maker looks again at individual cases before it goes to a tribunal."
Post edited at 18:03
 Timmd 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Fraser:

Yes, I felt it read in a pernickerty way.
1
 Indy 17 Jul 2016
In reply to off-duty:

> But who checks the checks carried out by the agent/solicitor ?

> Presumably a box is simply ticked, and 5% of a million quid is trousered.

You cannot be serious!
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Indy:

> You cannot be serious!

I don't know the procedure required. Are you going to enlighten us?
1
 off-duty 17 Jul 2016
In reply to Indy:

> You cannot be serious!

Do you know how it works?
Does it require a lot of documentation, or just a checkbox ?
What's the checking system in place for reviewing transactions that aren't flagged up as suspicious ?
Would it be normal to hire a translator for foreign documents ?


 Big Ger 17 Jul 2016
In reply to gethin_allen:
> I wouldn't be concerned about the English names, many Asian people take English names after realising just how bad we are at pronouncing their names and often the names they pick are out of step with current trends in names.

Yep. Roughly a quarter of the team in our office are Asian, and about half of them have different face to face names than those on their official email address.

Meifeng changed her name to Megan, (she said that was mainly due to it meaning "beautiful wind". )
Post edited at 22:05

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