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Selling to a Brit?


Jacqui      Too
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We have finally decided to sell our holiday home after 11 years (nothing to do with Brexit) and I now have a Brit that is keen to buy.

I've been keeping an eye on the exchange rates and wondered if it was ever possible for them to pay us in £'s and avoid both losing out on exchange companies lower than the interbank rate, I know they will have to exchange some money into euros; deposit, fees, notaire costs etc, but is it possible to have the remainder done in £'s

Thanks for any advice/help
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[quote user="Jacqui Too "]but is it possible to have the remainder done in £'s[/quote]Yes, this is possible, and it is how I bought my first property in France.  But that was in the last millennium.

Even in those days it depended on finding a notaire with sufficient grit, gumption and adaptability to perform the deed in this slightly different way. 

As far as I recall it, he was concerned, naturally enough, that the agreed price of the transaction should be declared in francs, and to be assured that this fairly represented the full amount that would change hands in sterling, and to receive a deposit of a sufficient sum in francs to cover the frais.

There is a little Q&A piece about it here :

http://www.completefrance.com/home/news/q-a-paying-for-a-french-property-in-sterling-1-3941185

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I'm afraid that article may be out-of-date.

You can check with your Notaire, but I believe that, since a couple of years ago, due to money laundering legislation, the money must be transferred from a legitimate source, e.g. a bank, directly into the Notaire's client account.

The only way I can see around this is that there may be some Notaires with a client account denominated in Sterling, either in France or elsewhere.

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nomoss wrote : I'm afraid that article may be out-of-date.

The same thought crossed my mind .. friends have just sold here, as they are returning to the uk for family reasons, and they have had a most difficult time negotiating the present regulations as they wanted their resulting €€ sent directly to an exchange company .. for exchange to ££ .. and the notaire said firmly No. The €€ had to pass from the notaire's account to their French bank account .. and nowhere else.
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[quote user="suein56"]nomoss wrote : I'm afraid that article may be out-of-date.

The same thought crossed my mind .. friends have just sold here, as they are returning to the uk for family reasons, and they have had a most difficult time negotiating the present regulations as they wanted their resulting €€ sent directly to an exchange company .. for exchange to ££ .. and the notaire said firmly No. The €€ had to pass from the notaire's account to their French bank account .. and nowhere else.[/quote]

There would be no problem there, except perhaps a couple of days' delay, as your friends could send the proceeds to an exchange company's account in France.

I feel that everything could be solved by a Notaire having an account in France denominated in Sterling.

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nomoss wrote : I feel that everything could be solved by a Notaire having an account in France denominated in Sterling.

That notaire might be a tad difficult to find around here .. the vast majority of current buyers here are French, Swiss, French, USA, French .. with the odd 'unknown' .. plus perhaps Belgian or Dutch thrown in.

The Brits around here are mostly old-school buyers dating from when this area was cheaper ie 20 or 25 years ago. These are the ones selling to return to the UK .. or even the odd one leaving for Portugal .. with their generous tax offers for retirees.
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Personally I wouldn't worry about helping the buyers to save money.

I'd be selling for a Euro price, so would expect to be paid in Euros, and would just stick the money in our French bank and wait until the exchange rate is in our favour.

The way things are going I'd be best off leaving it in Euros.

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[quote user="suein56"]nomoss wrote : I'm afraid that article may be out-of-date.

The same thought crossed my mind .. friends have just sold here, as they are returning to the uk for family reasons, and they have had a most difficult time negotiating the present regulations as they wanted their resulting €€ sent directly to an exchange company .. for exchange to ££ .. and the notaire said firmly No. The €€ had to pass from the notaire's account to their French bank account .. and nowhere else.[/quote]

Ahh, the gaelic shrug and 'Non' I've come across that before! I won't be banging my head on a brick wall about this but it does seem ridiculous that we lose between 4-5k between us.

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[quote user="suein56"]Jacqui Too wrote : I'll just have to ask but expect to be disappointed.

You definitely don't get if you don't ask .. so ask away .. you might strike lucky ☺[/quote]

I keep wanting to press the 'like' button, you can tell I've been away awhile elsewhere! lol
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[quote user="nomoss"]
Personally I wouldn't worry about helping the buyers to save money.

I'd be selling for a Euro price, so would expect to be paid in Euros, and would just stick the money in our French bank and wait until the exchange rate is in our favour.

The way things are going I'd be best off leaving it in Euros.

[/quote]

Humm, I think the £ would have to drop nearer parity for me to not bother about scraping back a few grand after losing so much when the French housing market dropped and prices that never really recovered let alone increased.

We're selling because there is a whole big world out there and having a holiday home in France is just not viable anymore. The Brexit effect on the £ couldn't have come at a better time for us. By the time the sale goes through it might be an even better time to buy £'s, so you may be right!

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