The second most common question I'm asked - after 'can I do no money down deals?' is about setting up some form of Joint Venture (JV) deal.

The typical arrangement is that one person has the time/skills and the other has the money. It's a perfectly legitimate strategy to bring these two elements together and to make them work for the benefit of both parties.

However, as we know since 2008 the lending climate has substantially changed and to ensure that the person borrowing the money is the one who has committed to the deals financially, lenders are insisting that deposits come from the borrowers own funds. The fact is they've always wanted to see this, but were somewhat lax in enforcing this for a while. But no longer; the fact is if you want to have their money then you really do need to abide by their rules!

Not to mention the not so little issue of money laundering! Brokers, lenders and solicitors must take all steps possible to prevent this and a common way to launder money is for individuals with 'dirty cash' to persuade other people to use it to fund assets such as property purchases and then refinance, thus cleaning up the money.