Selling property for £ sterling

[Krill]

Is it possible to sell my French house for pounds sterling? I still have an English bank account, also is it true that you can now use an English solicitor to buy French property?

Many thanks in advance for any help

[Will]

It is certainly possible, but unless the house is of very high value (i.e. several million euros) the benefits of using sterling instead of Euros are pretty minimal, and unlikely to be offset by any possible saving in currency exchange. Taxes and legal fees are still payable in France, so some of the money has to be converted to Euros, and the way the system seems to work means that two English solicitors (one to represent each party), as well as a French notaire, have to be employed, and paid.

It is not possible yet to use a foreign lawyer instead of a French notaire, but it is something that has been discussed in Brussels - see http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-legal/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=11298 for more information. Again, there is not likely to be any financial advantage, and French property and inheritance law is so different from that in Britain that I would feel rather uneasy about using a non-French-qualified lawyer. Solicitors tend to work to flat fees, whereas notaire fees are based on percentages. The vast majority of the notaire fees are taxes, which will have to be paid anyway to the French government, regardless of the nationality of the lawyer. Notaires are, effectively, government-subsidised, and the point at which their percentage would exceed an English conveyancer's fee is pretty high. Significantly, perhaps, the example quoted in the article linked above involves a property valued at 15million €.

The article was written by Sykes Anderson, who can also advise on French property transactions in sterling if you decide that's what you want to do.

[Krill]

Thanks Will, excellent reply