VIVLY LIVING CELEBRATES “MOMENTOUS” BITCOIN HOUSE SALE

Award-winning Yorkshire residential developers Vivly Living have celebrated their first house sale using the crypto currency Bitcoin.

Huddersfield-based Vivly, who have built successful West Yorkshire developments at Shepley, Denby Dale and Skelmanthorpe, have hailed this purchase as “a momentous occasion”.

Samantha Baldaro, head of sales progression at Vivly, takes up the story.

“Our purchaser Emma was looking to buy one of our £500,000-plus houses and needed a small mortgage to top up her funds to buy the home. She wanted to use Bitcoin to do this, which we’d never experienced before. So, it was a steep learning curve for everyone.

“We put Emma in touch with our trusted mortgage broker David Bussey, who had to work extremely hard to ensure the lender was fully up to speed with Emma’s situation. Working closely with the business development manager, he managed to secure the mortgage funds required through Barclays Bank.

“Whilst the mortgage application was going through, she had approached numerous different solicitors, including three on our own panel, all of whom decided they would not deal with crypto currency. She had one solicitor who accepted her search fee money and started work on her file only to advise four weeks later they did not wish to take her case any further.

“Eventually Emma managed to find Monarch Solicitors based in Manchester who were happy to accept her purchase and were extremely helpful from the outset. We were surprised and elated to see Emma’s contracts issued within four weeks.

“Buying with Bitcoin is essentially the same as buying with a mortgage. Once the money is transferred into pounds sterling via a high street bank, it’s then transferred over to the solicitors for them to disperse. Once this deal was completed, it was a momentous occasion.”

“It was a joy to deal with Emma, she was the perfect customer. I never had to chase her for anything, we kept in regular contact with each other (almost daily some weeks) and she always provided any information required with immediate effect.

“She has often expressed her satisfaction with her journey with Vivly Living and felt very pleased that we were patient and worked alongside her in order for her to achieve owning her dream home,” said Samantha.

David Bussey explained: “At present, it's pretty unusual to buy a house with Bitcoin, but as time goes by, I can see more people having income generated by - and paid in - Bitcoin

“The difficulty is all around people/lenders understanding of how the income is generated, and how sustainable this is. At present, 99 per cent of lenders will categorically say they don't accept any Bitcoin income. In order to satisfy the one per cent, all income must be converted to GBP, with the converted income declared to HMRC and appropriate tax paid.

“A recognised qualified accountant who understands Bitcoin is a must, along with a solicitors’ practice who specialise in bitcoin and can prove there is no money laundering going on. The mortgage lender must be certain the funds have a genuine origin. 

“This was my first Bitcoin transaction but having gone through the process from the customer's original enquiry to completing the purchase I now understand what is required.”

Leah Whitehead of Monarch Solicitors added: “In recent years, cryptocurrency has surged in popularity, and we’re now witnessing a notable shift towards individuals seeking to use crypto to buy property. As cryptocurrency has increasingly become a legitimate investment asset, there’s no reason why these funds can’t be used to purchase property. However, while this is possible, the process remains complex.

“Many solicitors will not accept crypto as a source of funds due to the extensive due diligence required. Therefore, a specialist solicitor with experience in handling cryptocurrency transactions is essential for these types of deals. As the acceptance of cryptocurrency grows, we expect these types of transactions to become more frequent.”