The End of the Kirkcaldy Dream?

Just when it seemed there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon I have received a ridiculous email from Thorntons solicitors which casts doubt on the professional standards of my local Australian solicitor.

Some of you may remember the strange situation whereby the Scottish solicitor acting for the vendor of the house I wished to purchase initially agreed to work for me. After discussing my situation and advising me on how much to offer for the ex-council house in Kirkcaldy he withdrew, claiming he hadn't realised he was also working for the vendor. He passed my details to an associate of his operating from a legal practice known as Thorntons.

Now Thorntons are suggesting my local solicitor, David McCashney might be less than professional in how he operates.

Why?

Because Thorntons refuse to accept that the certification stamp used by this Australian solicitor adequately proves my identity.

What does David McCashney’s stamp adjacent to my passport image say?

 And Thorntons’ response to that is;

“The ID has only been certified as a true copy of the original document and not a true likeness of Mrs Matthews by David McCashney.”

How should I interpret this rejection?

I could be that Thorntons don’t realise that passports are only issued after the photographs supplied have been certified as a true likeness of the person making the application?

Or Thorntons do understand how passports get issued, but they believe David McCashney is a solicitor who would sign any old document for anyone without bothering to ask whose passport it was, or why they were seeking certification for passport with someone else's image?

McCashney's certification has been adequate for all the pension fund trustees that I have been dealing with over past months, but not Thorntons.

And it gets worse.

Thorntons have also rejected my documents from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, The Department of Work and Pensions, JP MorganChase, James Hay, Barclays, Nationwide, et al 

None of these documents providing a clear audit trail showing the provenance of my funds have any worth for Thorntons. Why is that? 

Because all of those institutions are writing to me at my Australian address and Thorntons need a copy of a document showing my UK address issued within the past 6 months. 

I don't have a UK address, which is why I had been trying to buy a house in the UK. 

If the email this morning hadn't reduced me to tears I would have been laughing because yesterday I was reading Ian Rankin's new Rebus novel, Rather Be The Devil. This has a money laundering thread, but in his narrative secret entities are buying large blocks of high value real estate in the city for millions. If the crooks in Rankin's novel tried laundering their money by buying cheap ex-council houses it would take them a very long time indeed to make it worthwhile.